Illawarra's greyhound racing vet adamantly rejected claims NSW Greyhound Racing abetted trainers illegally using live baits to "blood" their dogs and claims suspending racing would damage thousands of "decent people who love their dogs and do the right thing".
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Following ABC's Four Corners' expose of greyhound trainers using live rabbits, piglets and possums as bait, Independent MP Andrew Wilkie joined the Greens in advocating for all racing to be suspended pending an investigation.
Bulli and Dapto greyhound racing vet Ben Holding said he had never seen any sign of "blooding" or animal cruelty in the 18 months that he been employed by Greyhounds NSW.
"This is a criminal activity, the minority who are doing this are not going to make it obvious, they're working against officials to hide it," he said.
"It's like blaming the police for drug dealers.
" If you were doing something illegal, you wouldn't make it public."
Mr Holding checks every dog in every race at the two tracks and says if he had seen signs of the illegal practice he would have reported it immediately.
"There's no way when I check a dog to tell if it's been blooded; Greyhound Racing NSW have random visits to trainers and training facilities with vets and officials to pick up any signs of cruelty," he said
"These guys have managed to hide it from investigation, it's my understanding this is the first time GRNSW has heard of this so I hope it's the minority who have done this without detection."
Mr Holding didn't doubt the veracity of ABC's graphic footage which showed dogs mauling live animals, but he said claims that suggested the practice was common in the industry were exaggerated.
"It's an exaggeration to say this is part of racing, it's a very small minority who have given the whole industry a bad name.
"The vast majority of people I work with care absolutely about their dogs - one lady hugs her dogs before races and others take them to McDonald's on the way home as a treat."
He warned suspending the racing industry would hurt thousands of people who depended on the industry for income.
"The vast majority are good people, so it's not fair to slander the group as a whole," he said.
"People don't realise this is a full-time job for a lot of people and there's not a lot of money in it; they're decent people who don't deserve this."
GRNSW has launched a taskforce headed by former High Court judge Michael McHugh, QC, to investigate live baiting and claims it doesn't have the same power to obtain footage in the way that animal welfare rights groups did.
"We are forbidden from illegally entering a property and mounting static cameras in hidden locations ... the issue we face is that we do not have the power to do what Animals Australia have done in capturing the footage aired on Four Corners," GRNSW said.
"We hope that the taskforce that we launched today will be able to identify new powers that will bolster our ability to crack down on this archaic practice of live baiting."
