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The Mayor of Gedling has postponed a charity night at Nottingham Greyhound Stadium after pressure from an animal rights group.

Labour councillor Viv McCrossen had organised the Night at the Races event to raise money for her chosen charity on Friday, September 15.

Money from the sale of tickets would have gone to the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

But she has decided to postpone the event after Nottingham Animal Rights stepped in with concerns about the Mayor running an event, which they claim, exploits dogs.

She said: "One of my roles as Mayor is to raise as much money as possible for my chosen charity, the Motor Neurone Disease Association and I would not want anything to detract from focus on this.

"I am a dog lover and supporter of a number of animal welfare charities.

"The Greyhound Board of Great Britain have reassured me that animal welfare is their top priority however, to give me time to review the information provided by the Nottingham Animal Rights group, I have decided to postpone the charity fund-raising event due to take place on Friday at Colwick race ground until further notice."

Huw Longman, member of Nottingham Animal Rights, says the group is grateful that she has reconsidered.

He told the Post: "We have just asked her to reconsider where she is holding her fund-raising events. She is a clearly a dog lover herself and has been raising money for the dogs affected by the floods in Texas.

"We know the exploitation that occurs across the dog racing industry. It does not answer to any governing body and they do not release figures of how many dogs are injured or die on the track.

"The Mayor is a dog lover and we are an educational group and reached out to her and are grateful that she has reconsidered. There are many other venues she could hold events without supporting the racing industry."

The Post contacted Nottingham Greyhound Stadium for a comment, but had no reply at the time of going to print.