2 May 2018

Greyhound on meth a wakeup call for racing industry

The Green Party is calling on the greyhound racing industry to better address animal welfare issues, following the release of a finding by the Judicial Control Authority for Racing that a dog was found to have traces of methamphetamine and amphetamine in its system after winning a race last year.

The dog’s owner has been only given a two year ban and will simply hand ownership of his dogs over to this wife.

The latest animal welfare breach comes hot on the heels of a scathing report into the industry by Hon. Rodney Hansen QC that highlighted serious animal welfare issues, including the high rates of death in the industry.

“This is more bad news for greyhounds and an industry that time and again has proven it is more concerned with winning than the health of their dogs,” said Green Party Animal Welfare spokesperson Gareth Hughes.

“Drugging dogs with dangerous methamphetamines is a new low for the greyhound industry.

“Only eight other countries in the world have commercial greyhound racing industries and this latest incident raises the question if in fact it should be reduced to seven.

“The industry needs to immediately prove it can operate in a humane way, with decent animal welfare standards. Greyhounds shouldn’t be drugged for people’s viewing and gambling pleasure.

“This report is a wake-up call to an industry that gets away with treating animals in ways that no dog lover would ever consider reasonable or how they would treat their own pets,” said Mr Hughes.

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