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In 2015 Australia\u2019s multi-billion-dollar greyhound racing industry vowed it would clean up its act.<\/p>\n
A damning investigation at the time had exposed the preventable deaths of as many as 17,000 young dogs a year – revelations so shocking the government of the day rushed to implement an ultimately short-lived ban.<\/p>\n
Almost a decade later, Greyhound Racing New South Wales (GRNSW) – the epicentre of the sport in the country – is back in the spotlight for alleged abuse, due to the work of one whistleblower.<\/p>\n
In an explosive report made public by lawmakers, the organisation’s former chief veterinarian has described the industry as a hotbed of \u201cexploitation and suffering\u201d, claiming that dogs are being raced at \u201cbarbaric\u201d rates, euthanised without cause, or left to rot in metal cages when they can no longer compete.<\/p>\n
Executive heads are rolling, and an inquiry, which GRNSW says it \u201cwelcomes\u201d, has been announced to investigate the accusations, as calls from critics to have greyhound racing outlawed grow louder.<\/p>\n
But despite evidence of slipping public support, the state\u2019s premier has said he won\u2019t shut down the sport, prompting a standoff with those calling for that to happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality is the greyhound racing industry cannot exist without systemic animal cruelty,\u201d says NSW Animal Justice MP Emma Hurst.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be shut down \u2013 it\u2019s just a matter of when.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nAustralia is thought to be the world\u2019s largest commercial greyhound racing industry<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n\n
Australia has been touted as the world\u2019s largest commercial greyhound racing industry – with roughly 60 tracks in operation. New Zealand, the US, the UK and Ireland are also home to markets, but none operate at the same velocity.<\/p>\n
Thanks to online betting, Australia\u2019s industry has seen rising profits in recent years, turning over A$8.3bn ($5.6bn; \u00a34.3bn) in 2023 – with 75% of the money coming from Victoria and New South Wales (NSW), according to the greyhound protection organisation GREY2K. <\/p>\n
The spark that ignited the current outcry over the sport\u2019s practices was a \u201chandover\u201d letter, from GRNSW\u2019s Chief Veterinary Officer Alex Brittan to his incoming replacement – his final act in a job that by his own account, had nearly broken him.<\/p>\n
The 54-page document contains a litany of accusations – including claims that GRNSW had worked with vets \u201cunaccepting of modern medicine\u201d who were prone to euthanising dogs without cause, and that the company\u2019s leadership was directing staff to treat animal welfare groups \u201cas the enemy\u201d.<\/p>\n
Within hours of Mr Brittan\u2019s letter becoming public, the chief of GRNSW Rob Macaulay had resigned and the rest of the company\u2019s board is now fighting for their survival.<\/p>\n
NSW\u2019s Gaming and Racing Minister David Harris has announced an inquiry into Mr Brittan\u2019s claims which will be led by the industry\u2019s regulator – something which GRNSW has been quick to embrace.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe welcome the opportunity for an external examination of our processes and record,\u201d its acting CEO Wayne Billett wrote in a statement. And a spokesperson for GRNSW told the BBC that the organisation takes concerns related to animal welfare \u201cvery seriously\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe state of New South Wales is the epicentre of greyhound racing in Australia<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n\n
But Mr Brittan\u2019s account differs.<\/p>\n
In his letter he described witnessing \u201ccases of extreme distress\u201d in which competing dogs had \u201crecent pools of blood\u201d around them after ripping off their toenails while \u201cclawing\u201d at their caged doors.<\/p>\n
He also called out a flurry of \u201cpreventable\u201d on-track deaths, due to greyhounds running into poles with \u201cno padding on them\u201d and questioned the figures GRNSW had put forward concerning how many retired dogs it had found homes for – a practice which gives the sport its social licence to operate.<\/p>\n
Mr Brittan says that of the roughly 4,200 dogs entering the industry each year, only 1,600 were making it out and finding owners, with the rest living out their days in \u201cindustrial kennels\u201d.<\/p>\n
Further – he alleged that a company programme which had been set up to export retired greyhounds to the US, so that they could find homes there, had an alarming lack of oversight.<\/p>\n
To prove his point, he told the story of Carey – a dog who died at Sydney airport after confusing its travelling box with a racer\u2019s starter box and running into a fence at full speed when the door opened.<\/p>\n
NSW\u2019s premier Chris Minns said he would examine all the allegations put forward by Mr Brittan, but quickly ruled out a blanket ban on greyhound racing in the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re not going to shut down the industry, but we do take this report seriously,\u201d he told reporters last week.<\/p>\n
And Mr Harris reiterated that the government would make sure the industry was held to \u201cthe highest standards of animal welfare and integrity\u201d once the new investigation had concluded.<\/p>\n
But given GRNSW has weathered multiple crises – including a government-backed inquiry in 2016 which delivered findings of \u201csystemic animal cruelty\u201d and mass killings – advocates are sceptical another inquiry will yield results.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe greyhound racing industry was already given a chance to clean up its act eight years ago, and it\u2019s monumentally failed,\u201d Ms Hurst told the BBC.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nAcross Australia, dog lovers have taken to the streets to protest against greyhound racing<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n\n
Mr Brittan has also challenged the impartiality of the current investigation – saying it should be done by an external source, rather than the industry\u2019s own regulator.<\/p>\n
And he questioned why an all-out ban had been taken off the table already.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt could be perceived as concerning that the premier and gaming minister have stated that the outcome of the inquiry is a foregone conclusion and that, irrespective of any findings, all bets are on, and the gambling will continue,\u201d he said, according to the Guardian.<\/p>\n
Around the world, the prominence and popularity of dog-racing for sport has been in decline.<\/p>\n
In the US for example – which used to be one of the sport’s largest industries – betting on greyhounds has been outlawed in all but a handful of states, and only two active tracks remain, both in West Virginia.<\/p>\n
Advocates like Ms Hurst argue that the practice endures in Australia not because of community fanfare, but gambling profits.<\/p>\n
The last time the industry was in the spotlight in 2016, over 80% of people polled by the country’s national broadcaster said they wanted to see it shut down.<\/p>\n
And in recent years, it has been outlawed in the Australian Capital Territory, while petitions calling for other jurisdictions to follow suit have made their way to several state parliaments.<\/p>\n
GRNSW says it has no plans to go anywhere – and that racing, which first came to the nation\u2019s shores in the late 1800s, can be done \u201csustainably\u201d.<\/p>\n
But Ms Hurst, and others calling for an end to the sport, say that the latest spate of allegations present a unique \u201copportunity\u201d to \u201clisten to the community and ban this cruel industry\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"4 days ago By\u00a0Hannah Ritchie,\u00a0BBC News, Sydney Getty Images A whistleblower has alleged that greyhounds are being raced at “barbaric” rates in Australia In 2015 Australia\u2019s multi-billion-dollar greyhound racing industry vowed it would clean up its act. A damning investigation at the time had exposed the preventable deaths of as many as 17,000 young dogs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[41],"tags":[1623,594,1348,754,14396,5948,10105],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38958"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38958"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38960,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38958\/revisions\/38960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}