In what part of our consciousness is greyhound racing ok? It’s not, yet this barbaric death ritual continues…
Animal Liberation’s Lisa Ryan and Richmond Greens’ runner Mandy Nolan both agree that greyhound racing is inherently dangerous and cruel and contributes to unacceptable and horrific greyhound injuries and deaths of gentle dogs, forced to run for gambling profits.
A now, a damning six-month NSW specific ‘death tracks’ report compiled and released by the Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds (CPG) has evidenced shocking industry data confirming an alarming increase to NSW greyhound racing track deaths and injuries.
Mandy Nolan says the report has obliterated any credibility held by Kevin Anderson, NSW Minister for Better Regulation & Innovation and his claims that the NSW greyhound industry had higher animal welfare standards than any other Australian state and territory.
Political spin cannot obscure damning statistics
‘No amount of political spin can obscure the industry’s own damning statistics. Between January and June 2021, NSW greyhound racing resulted in a marked increase in deaths and injuries across all categories (36 deaths and 1521 injuries), and we know their final injury fate will remain largely undocumented.
Ms Nolan says this shocking NSW result includes a 44 per cent increase in catastrophic greyhound injury leading to death and overall, the worst fatality rate in Australia with almost 50 per cent more greyhounds dying in 2021 than in the same 2020 period.
‘More than 2,000 NSW greyhounds have been transferred out of NSW however their fate has not been made public and we fear for their safety.’
Worst fatality rate in Australia
Animal Liberation’s Lisa Ryan says this is by far the worst fatality rate in Australia even allowing for the 11 per cent increase in the number of race meetings. ‘NSW racetracks are not just killing more greyhounds compared to 2020, but also injuring more dogs with an increase in all racing injury categories, with 1521 total injuries, 268 major injuries and 97 life-threatening injuries.
Ms Ryan says past claims by Kevin Anderson espousing NSW superior welfare and track safety standards, prove inaccurate and unreliable. ‘The NSW Coalition Government’s ongoing failure to implement promised welfare reforms emanating from government’s own 2016/2017 Greyhound Reform Panel Inquiry.
‘There is a failure by NSW Government and GRNSW to progress commissioned study, findings and recommendations from University of Technology Sydney report into track design and safety.
$30 million of public money for track safety not fully expended
‘The 30 million dollars of public money invested towards track safety in 2017 was not fully expended and provides at best, cosmetic and meaningless improvement in track safety and preventing greyhound deaths and injuries.’
Ms Nolan says things have to change now.’ Animals are not here for our entertainment or gambling profits,’ she said. ‘There are no safe greyhound tracks. Ending greyhound racing, injuries and deaths starts with us and will be the catalyst for change across NSW and Australia.’
The entire report can be accessed here: https://greyhoundcoalition.com/lethal-tracks-nsw-update.
To express your opposition to the proposed Tweed greyhound racing at Chinderah, contact Kevin Anderson at [email protected].
And we all know about the time the NSW Government banned greyhound racing in NSW. It did not end well. and no doubt gave rise to the Shooters Party. I can only commend the “courage” of the Greens in opposing this sport that if properly regulated, including improving the safety of the tracks, provides thousands of jobs across regional NSW. Try thinking about reducing the number of runners to 6 and to tackling the severity of the turns. Maybe more straight tracks would certainly reduce the number of injuries.
As usual the Greens want to shut everything down never providing any pragmatic solutions. Just create massive job losses every where they go.
Totally agree with you Alan. If they shut down greyhounds, next will be horse racing in their sights . If the animals didn’t love to run, they wouldn’t.
Their attitude is to “Ban” everything instead of looking to solutions.
If they shut down greyhounds, next will be horse racing in their sights.
GREAT!
If the animals didn’t love to run, they wouldn’t.
YOU’RE NOT ACTUALLY SERIOUS – REALLY? HORSES WOULD RUN AS FAST WITHOUT A WHIP?
Their attitude is to “Ban” everything instead of looking to solutions.
THE SOLUTION IS BANNING ANY SPORT THAT FORCES AN ANIMAL TO DO ANYTHING
Then , by analogy, we would have to ban human society, which forces us all to accede, condone, or condemn.
Greyhounds don’t love to race, they love to run. And they certainly don’t love to die on the tracks as 202 of them did last year. Around 80% of them with fractured legs, often repairable but obviously not worth the money or time to help them recover. Then there’s the: estimated 40% of puppies who are discarded before they even get to the track, known by the industry as “initial wastage” and then the “ongoing wastage” of adult dogs because they are considered too uncompetitive: https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/what-are-the-animal-welfare-issues-with-greyhound-racing/. In 2018, Greyhound Racing NSW said “The unlawful euthanasia of underperforming and unwanted greyhounds has unfortunately been a scourge on the industry for decades.” Let’s not talk about racing as if it exists so greyhounds can enjoy running. It’s an industry that exploits dogs to make money for a greedy gambling industry. It’s not the regional jobs that are of importance to governments, it’s the millions in gambling tax. If gambling stopped tomorrow, so would the racing industry, it’s financially unviable. We are the biggest gamblers in the world and the biggers losers with all the associated mental health and family breakdown issues. There’s a reason that we are one of only seven countries in the world who have commercial greyhound racing, and it’s about done in the US. It’s cruel, often corrupt and will keep killing young, healthy greyhounds until is banned.
Well Said 👏👏
The tragic plight of greyhounds in Australia is an ongoing issue which must be addressed. Too many greyhounds are suffering and dying, tracks are lethal, locked up in cages for hours on end, people and families affected by problem gambling, the list goes on.
I believe the public are starting to see through the government spin and cover up. There is a rising tide of public disgust and outrage as the deaths and injuries numbers become known.
Greyhound Racing has no place in Australia or indeed anywhere at all and must be banned.
The NSW government has poured over sixty million dollars into this industry since 2017, but the abuse and suffering just gets worse. The people of NSW deserve better than to see their tax money wasted on propping up a cruel and immoral industry, and the dogs certainly deserve better than to be used and abused and then discarded like old betting slips. It’s time to ban greyhound racing for good.
Thanks, I’ve written to Kevin Anderson asking him to reconsider his support for this immoral sport, which treats animals so cruelly merely for our sport, and to support our gambling. Betting on the dogs isn’t good for the humans that do it, for the dogs, or for our shared morality – how can we allow this to continue?.