Greyhound report ‘disturbing’
While the industry has taken steps to improve greyhound welfare it still has a long way to go to cleanup the sport.
Racing Minister Winston Peters
A report into welfare issues affecting greyhound racing in New Zealand has revealed some disturbing and deeply disappointing findings, Racing Minister Winston Peters says.
Findings from the independent report, commissioned by the New Zealand Racing Board back in November, were made public on Wednesday.
Undertaken by former High Court Judge Rodney Hansen QC, the review looked at progress on welfare over the four years since the last significant report in 2013.
It makes numerous recommendations to improve greyhound racing welfare and Peters said the sport has a long way to go to clean up its act.
‘‘This week I made a point of meeting with the NZ Racing Board in person to coincide with the board receiving the Greyhound Racing NZ response. The industry was left in no doubt just what dismal view the government has of this,’’ Peters said.
‘‘When the welfare of greyhounds should be paramount, the Hansen report has revealed rates of dog euthanasia, the numbers of ‘unaccounted’ for dogs, and low numbers of rehomed greyhounds which are simply unacceptable,’’ he said.
Peters said the recommendations deserved close attention.
Greyhound Racing New Zealand (GRNZ) said it welcomed the publication of the Hansen report.
In a statement, GRNZ said it is actively working on all 20 recommendations in the report.
‘‘While the industry has taken steps to improve greyhound welfare it still has a long way to go to clean-up the sport. It is not tolerable having some owners giving the rest a bad name,’’ Peters said.
‘‘Serious improvement is required particularly on kennel inspections, dog tracking, approvals regime before a dog can be euthanised, track safety, dog rehoming, and stricter enforcement of the dog health and welfare standards,’’ Peters said.
The Hansen report had not confirmed any instances of either live baiting or dead baiting in New Zealand in recent years but stated: ‘‘there is an investigation currently underway which may reveal evidence of relevant breaches of the Code of Welfare’’.
The SPCA currently has an open investigation into allegations of live baiting at the Manawatu¯ kennels of Lisa and Brendon Cole.
The use of live bait as a lure is believed to increase the dogs’ drive to chase, but it is illegal in New Zealand, whether the animal is dead or alive.
GRNZ guidelines only allow artificial lures.
Green Party animal welfare spokesperson Gareth Hughes has said the greyhound industry needs to immediately prove it can operate in a humane way, with decent animal welfare standards.
‘‘Greyhounds shouldn’t be dying for people’s viewing and gambling pleasure,’’ he said.
‘‘Only eight other countries in the world have commercial greyhound racing industries and this damning report raises the question if in fact it should be reduced to seven.
‘‘If the death, injury, and rehoming rates can’t be significantly improved, and better data collection and tracking enforced, the social license for this industry should be revoked,’’ Hughes said.
‘‘The industry also needs to improve its rules on euthanising dogs so that killing the animal is not used a cheap way of disposing of dogs when the owners are finished racing them.’’