The greyhound racing business has put itself in a world of hurt. It’s not going to end any time soon and they deserve every bit of it.
Nothing is guaranteed to spark outrage and wreck a business like cruelty to animals.
Nobody ever much cared that greyhounds were testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs including amphetamines, methamphetamines, caffeine, anabolic steroids, Viagra and cocaine. Or that positive tests for performance-inhibiting drugs coincided with the start of betting on dogs to lose.
Allegations of infiltration by bikie groups, money laundering and race fixing didn’t particularly damage the sport’s image. Nor did its obstruction of an independent investigation in NSW in 2011.
The industry’s failures to self-regulate corrupt, fraudulent, negligent or improper training methods were never properly investigated. Whistleblowers were intimidated and driven out of the industry.
The epic fall of greyhound racing was the ABC’s Four Corners story about live baiting and endemic cruelty in the industry. Revelations of officials’ wilful blindness to live baiting was just the beginning of their troubles.
An avalanche of revolting stories followed. Mass greyhound graves were found. People revealed that unwanted dogs had been thrown off cliffs on the way home from losing races. One trainer killed a dog by drilling into its skull.
Society has strong expectations about how animals should be treated. The greyhound industry lost its social license to operate when it broke every one of them. Earning that license back means operating in a way that matches public expectations.
First cab off the rank in the chain of responsibility has to be the state governments. Their complete failures at industry oversight and animal welfare deserve close attention.
In NSW, former Minister for Racing George Souris claimed that in his years on the job, “I never heard a word about the blooding of greyhounds, never heard a word.”
His successor, Troy Grant, had been Racing Minister for a year but only “lost confidence in the greyhound racing industry in New South Wales” in the week after Four Corners aired.
Neither claim is believable. It could not have slipped past either minister that, in 2013, evidence had been given at a Parliamentary inquiry into the industry that guinea pigs, rabbits, chickens, kittens and possums were used in live baiting.
State governments need to step up and do what is fair and square their job – enforce the legislation governing animal welfare, greyhound racing and gambling.
The industry needs to take full responsibility for the monstrous cruelty they have hidden. They need to do outrage management 101 and apologise, immediately and wholeheartedly, for the cruelty that they consistently ignored.
I’ve searched high and low for a real apology in the days after the show aired. One that includes the word “sorry” and says what will be different in future. From administrators, there was criticism of the cruel minority, pleas of ignorance and calls of unfairness. Trainers were concerned that the industry would be damaged and pleaded innocence.
Not one expressed affection or compassion for the greyhounds. It’s a heartlessness that just won’t wash with the public, whose frame of reference is the beloved family dog.
Finally, they need to accept that rapid cultural change and proper governance is the only way to get their business credibility back. Greyhound racing is being investigated in Victoria, Queensland and NSW. Associated boards in all three states have been sacked, stood down or resigned. Their credibility is in tatters and requests to continue self-regulation just reinforce the arrogance of the industry.
It’s in their interest to start working with governments on effective external regulation to show that greyhound racing is a compliant, legitimate business and not a shonky, two-bit insiders’ mafia.
The alternative is to wait for the outcomes of the investigations. By then, the industry’s reputation will have been trashed by follow-up stories that spawn endless slacktivist petitions. They will have to accept piecemeal, reactive policy on the government’s terms. Far more prudent to bite the bullet and straighten things out now.
Lynda Stoner, CEO of Animal Liberation NSW, said that inquiries will cause, “tinkering (to) be put in place that will make people feel warm and fuzzy for the moment…”
I don’t agree. Now that they’ve got the bit between their teeth, the public won’t tolerate 600 dogs being injured on tracks every month, 9000 greyhounds euthanised every year, and the possibility that live baiting is still going on.
They’re watching closely.
In industries where animals are commodities, there will always be an uneasy tension between welfare and profit. Australia has the third biggest greyhound industry in the world. Australians alone bet between $3 and $4 billion annually on it. It’s not going to go away.
Why then is the industry risking becoming as popular as coal-seam gas and tobacco? All they have to do to get through this mess is hold government to account, apologise wholeheartedly to the public, and be transparent about exactly how they are cleaning up their business.
Most importantly, they need to show that they genuinely care about their dogs.
Derek
Guest
WISH LIST CONTINUED. Standardised track design including straight line tracks to minimise injury. Include a maximum that any dog can run on a curved track in one month. Veterinary Surgeons with no personal involvement in the industry. DISCLAIMER. Whilst I do not support the industry I understand that it is not going away anytime soon. Please don't "nit-pick" with legislative mumbo jumbo but plleae feel free to add to the wish list to make a better safer future for the mutts.
Derek
Guest
WISH LIST WELFARE As animal welfare concerns in general won't go away anytime soon I would love to see a national welfare body. It could broken down into domestic, wildlife, livestock and commercial entertainment Welfare Officers would be made up of subject matter experts and reps from other fields and would rotate through each field. Severe sanctions would apply to serious or continued breaches and would come under a proceeds of crime act. TAX PARITY National T
Jim
Guest
No-one in their right mind should have given them self-regulation in the first place. Same for all the racing codes - self-regulation where big $$$ is involved is going to lead to peverse outcomes. The Greyhound authorities should take this opportunity to do what should have been done a long time - move to a centralised model, with states stopping competing amongst each other and working together for the industry as a whole to improve. This doesn't just apply to the obvious integrity/practices being discussed here, but more generally in operations. There needs to be a true central 'Greyhounds Australia' board, with broad oversight of the industry - and of course independent regulation of the industry.
Dez
Guest
The house always wins in the end and livestock farming has been around since before Adam. Have a chat to the good folk who don't get paid to rehabilitate and rehome dumped and abused dogs. They'd gladly show you around and have a chat. It made me climb up a high horse and take one home. If the industry get really serious about rehomimg then I'll jump up on my horse and, ride away and say nothing more.
Helen Taylor
Guest
My baby girl, Josie and I have been travelling around Qld and NSW in a caravan since August last year. You cannot believe how many people approach us and want to interact with a greyhound and to tell me they make greyt pets or know people who have them. She is adored by all and they are all disgusted by the mass graves in particular. I just think its such a shame to breed such a beautiful gentle dog for the soul purpose of gambling and then turn around and kill most of them. Its a killing industry and it just has to stop. Morons will bet on cane toads so let them do that instead of making greyhounds so dispensable.
Nan
Guest
Excellent article. While I disagree that no one "cared that greyhounds were testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs including amphetamines, methamphetamines, caffeine, anabolic steroids, Viagra and cocaine. Or that positive tests for performance-inhibiting drugs coincided with the start of betting on dogs to lose. " (trust me I did and was vocal about it), you have shown an "industry" run rampant with no care, no oversight and no regard for those they deem unworthy. Well done. There are better lives for these sweet souls than racing.
Dean
Guest
Gee Dez, that's a twisted kind of logic. Livestock fuels the economy, but greyhounds just entertain losers. This holier than thou attitude is exactly why reform of the greyhound industry is so difficult. The hypocrites get on their high horses and those whose livelihoods depend on it aren't going to work with people talking down to them.
Dean
Guest
How much of the outrage comes from within the industry or from those who have committed those billions in bets and how much comes from a group of people who won't be happy until Greyhound racing is ended completely? People will put up with the injuries and deaths as they have always done. It's not like they don't know it happens, they just don't want to think about it. Some reforms will take place and 99% of live baiting will end. People aren't outraged about the treatment of the dogs, but the treatment of the animals fed to them. Whatever percentage of the population is vegan have the right to be outraged about the way horses and dogs are treated. Anyone who eats meat products shouldn't complain about how racing animals are treated when they're treated a hell of a lot better than animals bred and raised for food.
Kath Logan
Expert
Dogs are 20% of bets placed nationallly. I was surprised too.
Kath Logan
Expert
You have raised an interesting issue. People are extremely discriminatory in their expectations of the kind of treatment different animals deserve, and wilfully blind to their part in it. Animals bred for sport or food are commodities in larger industries. As long as they are treated kindly and killed humanely, people who support those industries should have no concerns. The industries only exist because those people choose to be consumers. Strangely, after the 2014 Melbourne Cup there were plenty of BBQ goers chomping into a steak grieving the death of two racehorses and the money they lost on the race. That's wilful blindness. All three racing codes are extremely wasteful in their breeding practices.
Geoff Parkes
Expert
Excellent read thanks Kath. I shouldn't be surprised but gee... between $3b and $4b bet on the dogs annually… that's a lot of money, a lot of tax revenue and a lot of reasons why this will get sorted one way or another - hopefully transparently and correctly.
Dez
Guest
Problem is that they aren't really treated well during their life. The days of hobbyist family racing is long gone. The dogs are the same breed for thousands of years and were treated like family until the last hundred years. I've got an ex-racer and he didn't have his need for human affection bred out him. There is big difference in livestock that fuels our economy and feeds us and killing dogs that chase a fluffy toy around a track for the entertainment of bucks parties at the track and losers betting in a pub.
Dez
Guest
Thanks Kath. Well said. I agree that the industry will survive. Compassionate welfare needs to be at the heart at the industry. You'll note that Baird has announced tax breaks for the industry. Its obvious who's pocket he's in. So out of touch with the public.
Will Sinclair
Roar Guru
This is a great article. The greyhound industry needs to institute wide-spread and meaningful change to guard against live baiting (which is sickening) and cruelty to greyhounds. And to do this, it needs to admit it has a problem and admit and work with independent regulators. They have given up the right to self-regulation forever.
Will Sinclair
Roar Guru
Personally, I don't get the moral outrage about greyhounds OR race horses being euthanized. if an animal is bred for a purpose - to race - and is treated properly and humanely throughout their lives, then it shouldn't matter if they are also humanely euthanized when they have fulfilled their purpose. And then, if their remains are utilised in other industries (such as pet food) then that seems perfectly reasonable to me too. Animals are bred and killed for consumption all the time. It seems strange to single out one industry as particularly cruel.
Jim
Guest
I can fully understand the deserved rage at the greyhound industry - its deserved and needs to be cleaned up. But I don't get the moral outrage about 9000 greyhounds being euthanized every year, but we hear nothing at all barely about the multiple times this amount of horses euthanized every year. All we hear about is the 'glitz and glamour' dribble of the thoroughbred industry, when its just as bad as the other code and should be getting just as closely investigated.