Uproar as New South Wales bans greyhound racing

GREYHOUND racing has been outlawed in Australia’s most populous state despite fierce resistance from dog owners, with the New South Wales opposition leader dubbing the ban a “cruel ambush” of working-class people.

The ban, which will take effect from July 1, 2017, was passed in an overnight session by the New South Wales parliament in Sydney, State Premier Mike Baird said.

Although opposed by the dog racing industr y and spark ing heated debate wit hin his right-leaning coa lition government, the ban is intended to save thousands of dogs.

“I’m proud of the decision we have made to save thousands upon thousands of dogs from cruelty and death,” Baird said yesterday.

“It wasn’t an easy decision, but it was the right decision,” he said, adding that the government would help trainers and breeders whose livelihoods were impacted.

Austra lia has one of t he world’s la rgest greyhound racing industries, but Baird introduced t he ban following a string of scandals including “live baiting” and t he slaughter of tens of t housands of dogs.

Live baiting has been banned for decades in Australia, but the national broadcaster revealed in 2015 that live animals including piglets, rabbits and possums were still being used as bait to train some of the nation’s most successful dogs.

A subsequent state government inquiry found evidence of systematic animal cruelty, including the mass killing of dogs considered too slow to pay their way.

Animal protection society RSPCA New South Wales welcomed the ban as a “historic turning point for animal welfare”, but several members of Baird’s coalition government crossed the floor to vote against the legislation.

State opposition leader Luke Foley said the ban was “breaking the hearts of thousands of good men and women across the state”.

Foley said the ban would “criminalise an industry, a sport and an Australian way of life”.

“We have the uncivilised and cruel ambush of working people,” he said during the debate.