‘It’s very disappointing’: Hundreds of greyhounds still killed each year in Queensland
Three years on from the greyhound live baiting scandal that rocked the industry, fewer than half of the recommendations made by an inquiry into the sport in Queensland have been implemented.
Key points:
- Three recommendations have been put on hold after the inquiry
- Queensland Racing Integrity Commissioner Ross Barnett said breeding numbers are monitored every quarter
- Queensland Racing Minister Sterling Hinchliffe said the government is committed to introducing all recommendations
It comes as new figures show hundreds of dogs are still being euthanised every year.
Animal rights activists said the welfare of greyhounds still hasn't been addressed and the industry should have been shut down after the scandal broke in 2015.
The ABC's Four Corners program exposed shocking footage of live piglets, possums and rabbits being used to "blood" greyhounds during secret race training sessions in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
In Queensland, the revelations led to charges for more than a dozen people in the greyhound industry, the dismissal of Racing Queensland boards across all codes, and a Commission of Inquiry.
In his final report Commissioner Alan MacSporran made 15 recommendations to overhaul the industry including the creation of a new integrity body to safeguard animal welfare — this is now the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission (QRIC).
At the time Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said her Government would take swift and decisive action in relation to the findings of the report.
However, QRIC, Racing Queensland and the State Government have come under fire from Animal Liberation Queensland for dragging its feet on implementing reforms with only six in place.
"It's very disappointing — I mean they've had three years now to implement these recommendations," Animal Liberation Queensland president Chay Neal said.
"Sadly it looks like it's been a very expensive, multi-million-dollar PR exercise that seems to be more about restoring public confidence in industry and less about addressing the serious animal welfare issues."
Wastage and overbreeding 'ceased to be an issue overnight'
Three recommendations have effectively been put on ice altogether.
Queensland Racing Integrity Commissioner Ross Barnett said last year the State Government was asked to defer recommendations relating to the wastage and overbreeding of greyhounds because of a significant drop in greyhound breeding numbers.
"At the time Mr MacSporran put his report out they were averaging 2,200 new greyhounds being born every year but as a result of the revelations of Four Corners, breeding dropped dramatically across the country by 60 per cent," he said.
"In Queensland that meant, in QRIC's first full year, breeding dropped from 2,200 to 760 and it's only now just starting to recover so the recommendations around overbreeding and wastage practically ceased to be an issue overnight."
Mr Barnett said breeding numbers are monitored every quarter and if the issue remerges QRIC will look at reinstituting the recommendations.
But figures from QRIC show in the 2017-18 financial year, 898 greyhound puppies were born and 446 dogs were euthanised trackside because of injury, were unfit for rehoming or were recorded by a racing industry participant as being euthanised.
The MacSporran report said breeding, retirement and adoption figures were so poorly recorded by the industry that the commission had to construct data sets from a variety of sources.
It estimated 7,000 greyhound puppies were unaccounted for.
Database needed to ensure welfare of dogs
The remaining recommendations, which are still being actioned, include the establishment of a publicly accessible database run by QRIC to track racing greyhounds from birth to retirement and a fee paid by owners to help provide for the future welfare of the dog.
Australian Veterinary Association president Dr Paula Parker said it was crucial a national database is established so the welfare of greyhounds, even if they did not race, can be properly monitored.
"What's important when we have a database is that greyhounds, ideally when they're born, they're implanted with a microchip with an electronic ID and that has the ability to identify them throughout their whole life so we can track every single dog from birth to the time they're no longer with us," she said.
"That helps us with study information, data and evidence but it also helps with compliance to make sure those dogs are having the whole of life welfare provisions and the regulators have an ability to track that."
QRIC said it currently relies on information for greyhound racing from a national third-party owned database OzChase, and through licensing, registration and retirement data is working to implement its own system to track the dogs.
No proper system to track numbers
Mr Neal said he questioned the reliability of the OzChase database which largely relies on industry self-reporting.
"The MacSporran inquiry well established self-regulation just doesn't work," he said.
"Even on QRIC's figures, which I'm not sure even include the pups born into the industry that don't race, we're still looking at hundreds of dogs that are killed each year."
Since 2016, the QRIC run Greyhound Adoption Program has rehomed 541 greyhounds from the racing industry with 183 euthanised because they were unfit for rehoming.
Racing Queensland said the safety and welfare of its participants and racing animals remains its main priority.
"The greyhound racing industry has undergone significant and positive transformation since the Commission of Inquiry in 2015," a spokesman said.
"We will continue working with QRIC and the industry to make greyhound racing an enjoyable sport for all."
In a statement, Queensland Racing Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the Government is committed to introducing all recommendations.
"A number of these recommendations involve complex issues and are reliant on input from multiple agencies, with 75 actions already undertaken," he said.
"QRIC has set a high bar for integrity and animal welfare when it comes to greyhound racing in Queensland."
The State Government has put aside almost $120 million for a racing infrastructure fund in Queensland, and has committed $20 million towards a new greyhound and harness racing track.
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