The second racing death of a greyhound at the Casino track in November has highlighted the failures of the racing industry’s safety initiatives, say animal welfare advocates.
According to the Casino stewards’ report for 30 November 2023, in Race 4 three-year-old La Folie broke down and failed to finish, suffering a compound fracture of the ‘tibia/fibula’. She was euthanased.
Four dogs have now died racing at Casino this year, two more than in 2022, making it the second-deadliest track in NSW in 2023.
According to the industry database FastTrack, three other Casino dogs are now listed as Deceased after suffering a serious injury at the track this year. So far this year, 312 dogs have been injured racing at Casino, compared to 223 for the whole of 2022.
40 greyhounds have now been killed on NSW racetracks in 2023, making it by far the deadliest state. Nationwide, a total of 111 have been killed, detailed and verified here, according to the Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds.
Safety initiatives not working?
The latest death comes after a $30m government NSW track safety program, engineering advice from UTS, a Greyhound Care Scheme, trialling of new lures, and other so-called ‘safety initiatives’.
Despite this, there have been 862 ‘Category D’ serious injuries on NSW tracks in 2023, a 36% increase over the same period last year.
Kylie Field is the NSW director of the Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds. She said, ‘The Casino track has killed twice as many greyhounds this year as last year, even though it’s been upgraded under the taxpayer-funded safety program. Almost a hundred more dogs have been injured this year.
‘The Casino track is clearly unsafe. And under the new Care Scheme, La Folie shouldn’t have been euthanased but her leg treated,’ she said.
‘Racing minister David Harris must stop regurgitating the talking points of the racing industry and answer questions about the growing failures of greyhound racing.’
Kylie Field concluded by saying, ‘Mr Harris can’t ignore the failure of the taxpayer-funded safety program, the ongoing rehoming crisis, the widespread doping of dogs, the censorship of race videos, and all the other problems he’s now responsible for.’
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
