Aussie greyhound racing industry rocked by live baiting scandal

Australia’s greyhound racing industry has been rocked by an animal cruelty scandal.

Seventy trainers in Victoria, NSW and Queensland have been implicated in using live animals to ‘blood’ dogs, a practice some believe is entrenched and systemic in the industry.

Footage on ‘Four Corners’, an investigative show on state broadcaster ABC, showed trainers tethering animals to mechanical lures to propel them around tracks in the three states while dogs gave chase.

Clips showed dogs being allowed to attack and kill the animals on the lures and a possum snapped in half after being sent around the track at high speed dozens of times.

Trainers were heard laughing off-camera as a man joked about whether an animal, lying motionless on the ground, was dead.

Live-baiting has been banned in Australia for decades but some trainers still believe it will give their dogs an advantage when they race at the track chasing the artificial hare or rabbit.

Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV) chairman Peter Caillard said he was “disgusted” by the revelations in the report and claimed live-baiting was limited to only one private track in Victoria state.

“As soon as the allegations were brought to our attention we immediately suspended the individuals involved,” he said in a statement.

“GRV has already commenced an investigation and we look forward to the involvement of the Racing Integrity Commissioner in that investigation. It must not happen again.”

Greyhounds Australasia’s CEO Scott Parker said the industry clearly rejected live baiting and its 30,000 participants who play by the rules have had their reputations unfairly damaged by the conduct of a small minority.

“It shocks us that it isn’t seemingly just one person who is ignorant of the rules and has been led astray,” Mr Parker said.

“The footage did allegedly show people that know the rules, they know the law and they’ve risked not only their own reputation, their own livelihood, but the reputation and livelihoods of 30,000 others and that’s completely unacceptable. If found guilty, they don’t deserve the right to belong to this industry.”

Greyhound Racing NSW chief executive Brent Hogan said live baiting needed to be stamped out for good.

“What we need to look at is the powers around surveillance and inspections — and we need to make sure those powers are sufficient to allow us to weed out (these) activities,” he said.