Where our story starts

Our charity was named after the River Deel, which runs through the heartland of West Limerick, Ireland; where the rescue is primarily based. Limerick County and City is the home of Greyhound Racing and Greyhound Coursing in Clonmel, only one and a half hours away.

Originally founded as a general animal rescue in 2016, over time our mission and passion became more and more entwined with the fate and mistreatment of these beautiful gentle dogs from all over the country and not just our own locality.

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Why we do what we do

Greyhounds and their relatives are only valuable while they're winning. If they get old, or injured, or if they just don't have that competitive streak, then they're a liability & an ongoing cost that many trainers are not willing to pay. These dogs can be kept in terrible conditions, or just killed. The ones who were good racers in their day may be put to work as breeding factories, hoping to produce the next winner. The needs and welfare of the mother are not important; she's just a breeding machine. She will keep going until her body just gives up.

Ireland also has thousands of lurchers wandering the streets. A lurcher is a cross between a greyhound and something else, and because they're not pure-bred, they're essentially worthless and are treated that way. Most lurchers look like small greyhounds, except that they might be hairy or have different ears depending on who the other parent was. They are very funny and quirky and make excellent pets if given a chance. Most of them don't get that chance.

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How we do it

In 2024 we formally renamed our charity to DEEL Sighthound Rescue to indicate our focus and commitment to greyhounds, lurchers and their relatives. A sighthound is any dog who hunts primarily by sight and they all have the same general body shape as a greyhound - long legs & neck, skinny waist, deep chest, built for speed. Some of the most common are whippets, lurchers, salukis, greyhounds, wolfhounds, borzoi. We focus on rescuing them from the terrible conditions in which some are kept, and on providing a bridge and path to a happy life where they can experience love and give it back tenfold.

Most of our rehoming is done through partners, mainly in Italy and the UK where sighthounds are much more commonly kept as pets. In Ireland people see them as racing/hunting dogs and expect them to be highly driven, energetic and high maintenance, not well suited for indoor life. But they're not like that at all. The Italians recognized long ago that they're sprinters. They're not built to run all day like a sheepdog or husky. They're built to run at full power for a short time, and chill out and relax in between. They're actually some of the calmest and most laid-back dogs you'll ever meet, and make wonderful pets and friends.