Good News! Tasmania Will Phase Out Greyhound Racing – But This Needs to Be Nationwide
Citing a clear misalignment with community values, the Tasmanian Premier, Jeremy Rockliff, has finally announced a plan to phase out greyhound racing in the state by 2029.
This, of course, is excellent news for greyhounds, some 6,500 of whom have been injured and 78 more killed on Australian tracks in the past year alone.
But, with other state governments still throwing millions of dollars at the cruel industry, and thousands of dogs still being abused in the name of gambling, so much more needs to be done.
Australia is only one of seven countries with a commercial greyhound industry—but it’s by far the world’s biggest. We’re ostensibly a nation of proud “dog lovers”, so why does this cruelty continue?
The Cruelty of Greyhound Racing
Greyhounds are famed for being fast, but they’re not sports cars. They’re actually quite snuggly homebodies who love nothing more than sleeping up to 20 hours a day!
Sadly, in the greyhound racing industry, these gentle, clever dogs are bred to excess, raced to exhaustion, and disposed of when no longer viable, either trackside following career-ending injuries or at the end of their careers (at about three to five years of age).
Like horse racing, greyhound racing is a numbers game. Many more dogs are bred than make it to the track, with over 80% of greyhound pregnancies achieved via painful surgical artificial insemination (SAI).
These “surplus” puppies are discarded by the industry, which, alongside woeful rehoming numbers for dogs at the end of their lives, means many more greyhounds than good homes, which is how so many dogs have been found in mass greyhound industry graves over the years.
Quite simply, from birth to death, greyhounds are manipulated, exploited and abused in the industry, which in turn fuels Australia’s harmful gambling epidemic.
New South Wales – Putting Profits before Pups
Currently, the ACT is the only other Australian state or territory to outlaw greyhound racing. Queensland continues to invest in tracks, and Melbourne and New South Wales lead the industry in terms of growth. But it’s not that the practice hasn’t been brought into question.
In 2015, the NSW government announced a ban on greyhound racing, following a spate of live baiting incidents. The news was well received, but just a year later, then-premier Mike Baird backflipped, reversing the ban.
In the 10 years since, thousands of dogs were killed on tracks in the state, live baiting continued, and trainers were found to be still drugging and abusing dogs and failing to report their deaths.
A National Ban Is in Order
While the Tasmanian phase-out is a win, it’s just one state, and more needs to be done.
Tasmanian race owners and trainers can still take dogs over the border to states without bans, like New South Wales or Queensland, where new tracks continue to be built, and race them there.
A national ban on this gruesome pastime, like they have now put in motion in New Zealand, is the only solution to ensuring dogs no longer suffer and die to make money for their abusers and those who cheer for it.
How You Can Help Greyhounds
Of course, never betting on a greyhound (or any animal) race is the first step to removing them from the cruel cycle of breeding, wastage, exploitation, injury and death that the racing industry spells.
If you’re ready to add a new member to your family, you can also consider adopting a greyhound, or, if you have the means but not the space or time to give them the life they deserve, sponsoring one through a local rescue that specialises in racing retirees.
In the meantime, please join us in calling on the NSW government to ban greyhound racing for good.
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