Outrage over greyhound live baiting. Video: SMH
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Dapto Dogs race meet will go ahead on Thursday despite calls for the suspension of all Illawarra race meets until an independent taskforce had investigated all training and racing facilities.
Greyhound Racing NSW said the call from the Greens to ban all racing at Dapto and Bulli was an inappropriate response to the revelations that live animals were being used for baiting in the training and racing of greyhounds.
‘‘We think that is definitely not the appropriate course of action as there is no suggestion there is any occurrence of live baiting at Dapto and Bulli and no one in the Illawarra area was featured,’’ a spokesman said referring to the Four Corners investigation revealing evidence of live rabbits, possums and piglets being mauled to death in training sessions.
Greyhound racing in NSW has been profoundly and fundamentally corrupted by the practice of live baiting.
- John Kaye
‘‘This is a disgusting act, the vision we saw, and we condemn it and anyone found guilty is not welcome in our sport,’’ the spokesman said.
‘‘I call on anyone who does have information to get in touch with us and the RSPCA as soon as possible but closing down the tracks in the Illawarra that have not been caught up in this case doesn’t make any sense.’’
The spokesman said the Illawarra was a massive area for racing and the regulatory body had been ‘‘proactive in this area conducting inspections and acting on tip-offs’’.
He said reports of wrongdoing in the Illawarra were rare.
Greens candidate for Shellharbour Peter Moran said Thursday’s race at Dapto Dogs should be suspended pending the investigation into live baiting which he described as ‘‘barbaric, immoral and illegal” .
‘‘Our community deserves to know that live baiting is not part of the culture at Dapto Dogs. Only an independent investigation can allay these concerns,” Mr Moran said.
Greens NSW MP John Kaye said: “Greyhound racing in NSW has been profoundly and fundamentally corrupted by the practice of live baiting.
“The industry regulator Greyhound Racing NSW has lost any credibility it might have once claimed.
“Both NSW Labor and the Coalition must commit to legislation to abolish Greyhound Racing NSW on the very first day parliament sits after the election.
“NSW Racing Minister Troy Grant must also immediately suspend all races.’’
Greyhound NSW has set up a taskforce headed up by former High Court justice Michael McHugh, to examine training methods in NSW and arrangements for the supervision of trial tracks and training facilities.
But the Greens want a government appointed independent taskforce.
“Any taskforce established by Greyhound Racing NSW will be investigated by the same conflict of interest that has prevented action on live baiting for the past five and half years,’’ Mr Kaye said.
“Allowing the industry to investigate its own problems can only produce more of the same cover ups and influence peddling that has created the current animal welfare crisis.’’
Meantime the RSPCA expects more cases of trainers using live animals to train greyhounds to come to light.
Seventy greyhound trainers in Victoria, NSW and Queensland have been implicated in using live animals to ‘blood’ dogs, with 24 so far suspended.
RSPCA Victoria CEO Dr Liz Walker said it would likely be weeks rather than days before animal cruelty charges were laid.
The Illawarra greyhound racing industry has:
- 1032 registered participants
- 131 people in employed positions
- 429 greyhounds in training
- In the 2012-13 racing season, 1296 greyhound race meetings in NSW attracted attendances of more than 282,000.
- Racegoers were responsible for generating expenditure of more than $11.2million both on-course and in the community.
- The largest regions, in terms of customer spending, are the Hunter ($3.7million), Illawarra/South Coast ($2.4million) and Northern Rivers ($1.6million) regions.
Source: 2014 NSW Government report: Size and scope of the NSW Racing Industry
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