Facts matter when it comes to greyhound racing

This opinion piece by Stephen Lockley, Chair of Hobart Greyhound Racing Club was submitted to the Hobart Mercury.

Recently there have been many false claims about greyhound racing in Tasmania. This is not uncommon in recent times as the activist minority make dramatic generalisations about our sport and take figures out of context in order to push their extreme views onto the majority.

We accept that not everyone will enjoy our sport. We all have different sporting and recreational interests and that’s OK. But facts matter, and for too long the Tasmanian Greyhound racing industry has stood by and ignored the misinformation about our racing code.

It is important that the public is informed of the facts, and this starts by correcting the false claim that taxpayers’ money pays for greyhound racing. We do not get $10 million a year from government as is claimed by some. In the 2020/21 racing season the code funding was $5.2 million from which we delivered $9 million of commercial revenue to Tasracing and for that same period generated $53.2 million in economic benefit to Tasmania.

This means that not only does the industry pay for itself, but it generates profit and a benefit for the taxpayers of Tasmania. This is an inconvenient truth for the activists but again, facts matter.

But let’s get to the core argument, that of animal welfare. We love to talk about this because it’s close to every greyhound owner and trainer’s heart. We love our dogs. When not racing – and running is the greyhound’s DNA – our dogs live like any other pet at home, on beds, playing and having fun. You only have to come to a track and see the interaction between dog and owner to see the love and bond between them.

There is one significant difference between greyhounds and every other dog breed in Australia. Greyhounds are protected by tight regulations, meaning that not only do our owners and trainers want to treat their dogs like kings – they have to because it’s the law.

The Tasmanian Government, like other states, regulates, inspects, and monitors the whole-of-life journey of each greyhound including breeding, growing up, living conditions, racing life, kennelling, retirement, and rehoming. There are three separate Acts of parliament – Racing Act, Dog Control Act and Animal Welfare Act, plus a further 120 pages of Rules of Racing containing 183 national and state rules and eight separate policies of another 120 pages. This is all to protect our dogs

Sadly, every year in Australia tens of thousands of dogs of all breeds – that are not as protected – are euthanased by vets or die in other ways through being unwanted, sick, injured, neglected or mistreated, while owners of puppy factories breed dogs in appalling conditions. While the majority of owners love their pets, some don’t, and compared to the scrutiny on greyhound owners, there is very little accountability and regulation. For a reason known only to them, activists dismiss this comparison and ignore the bigger picture of animal welfare, presumably because it doesn’t suit their agenda.

Comparatively, a tiny percentage of greyhounds are euthanased each year, and when one is injured or dies, it devastates the owner just like it would any responsible and loving pet owner.

We don’t want to see even one of our dogs hurt, just like we’d rather have no animal or human ever become sick or injured, but this is of course totally unrealistic. Family pets are injured every day just like people are, and to ignore this fact and attempt to isolate animal injury to greyhounds is deceptive in the extreme.

The questions that really matter are around what the sport is doing to make greyhound racing as safe as possible. The answer is – a lot, and this is ongoing.

The sport ensures tracks are the safest they can be and there has been a large investment into track rebuilds and improvements over the past seven years.

At race meetings, every dog is checked by a vet before the race, and the vet is on the track for every race. Stewards monitor each race and there are a myriad of safety and welfare precautions.

The industry is so focused on best-practice animal welfare that injury figures are published and available, and here’s where these activists start to spin their falsehoods.

The vets – which are independent of the clubs – are so particular in their care that they will stop a dog racing, or order a rest period, for as little as a sore toe or a bruise, and this is recorded as an “injury”.

So when these so called injury figures are used out of context, the fact is – and facts matter – that the number of actual serious injuries is miniscule.

Furthermore, if a greyhound is injured and cannot race again, the dog is looked after through the ‘track injury rebate scheme’, which pays between $1500 and $6000 – and in some cases higher – to ensure the dog receives the highest quality medical treatment. Only in the rare and unfortunate circumstance that an injury is classed as catastrophic is a dog euthanased. Many of the figures you see quoted are outdated, from before this scheme was implemented.

There are 531 licensed participants in greyhound racing across Tasmania, and tens of thousands of broader participants and supporters. These include nurses, teachers, builders, plasterers, brick layers, retirees, hospitality workers and sporting figures.

These people are passionate about their dogs and when the dogs finish racing many keep them in retirement. Those who cannot, simply because they already have other greys at home, avail themselves of the rehoming options and the dogs go to loving homes.

From time to time someone in our industry will do the wrong thing, but this happens across every sector of society. When this occurs our industry will condemn this and support harsh action against any perpetrator.

Facts matter, and for this reason the Tasmanian greyhound clubs support the initiative of Greyhound Clubs Australia to ensure we all have access to the facts. I encourage you to go to www.greyhoundfacts.com.au and find out.

I also urge you to not to just take my word for the treatment and care we give our dogs. Come out to Elwick racecourse on any Thursday night and see for yourself. Club officials will provide you with information and a behind the scenes look at the way we race.

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