Source: MIL-OSI Submissions
Source: SAFE For Animals
On Tuesday, following a race at Addington Raceway, greyhound ‘Epic Addi’ was found to have a displaced compound fracture of the right fore ulna and radius, with soft tissue damage up to the elbow joint. Eight greyhounds have died on racetracks to date this season, with five of the eight deaths occurring at Addington Raceway.
Greyhound Racing New Zealand edited the fall from the race video, which resulted in the euthanasia. GRNZ recently edited another race video for a similar injury that occurred at Manawatu Raceway in March this year.
SAFE spokesperson Will Appelbe said the industry still has a transparency problem.
“There are some skeletons in the industry’s closet that GRNZ is doing its best to hide,” said Appelbe.
“The industry is under mounting pressure, but instead of acknowledging and addressing its problems, GRNZ continues to operate with a lack of transparency over the harm and pain it’s inflicting on dogs.”
Last week Newshub revealed that the Racing Integrity Board (RIB) is making inquiries into prolific greyhound trainer John McInerney. Photos and medical notes linked to McInerney showed eight of his dogs in poor condition, with some suffering from blindness, open wounds, bite marks from other dogs, injuries that were old and left untreated, lacerations, and severe worms.
Newshub also revealed the RIB had issued up to 300 warnings and improvement notices to kennels, and almost all kennels visited by the RIB had issues.
“Animal welfare issues have been on the radar for the greyhound racing industry for close to a decade, and yet we still see dogs placed in harm’s way, either on the track or in the kennels.”
“Racing Minister Grant Robertson has placed the industry formally on notice. We think the evidence speaks for itself. He needs to make the call and ban greyhound racing.
SAFE is Aotearoa’s leading animal rights organisation.
We’re creating a future that ensures the rights of animals are respected. Our core work empowers society to make kinder choices for ourselves, animals and our planet.
– Stewards report from the race meeting. Epic Addi’s fall occurred in race twelve.
– Racing Minister Grant Robertson has stated there are three fundamental issues that still need to be addressed; data recording, transparency of all activities, and animal welfare generally. He has tasked the Racing Integrity board to identify a specific set of indicators over each of these areas that will be used to assess the industry’s progress, reporting back to the Minister before the end of 2022.
– In August 2021, Labour MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan accepted The Greyhound Protection League of New Zealand’s 37,700 signature-strong petition, calling for a ban on greyhound racing in New Zealand. SAFE had been supporting the petition since November 2020.
– Greyhound racing is legal in only seven countries. A ban in the Australian Capital Territory came into force in April 2018, followed by a ban in Florida, USA, in November 2018. Since Florida is home to 11 of the USA’s 17 active dog tracks, this is a signal that greyhound racing will soon become a thing of the past in the United States.
