Industry-led programs to rehome retired greyhounds helped just 2,000 dogs across Australia last year and were outperformed in the two biggest racing states by community-run services operating on threadbare resources, a new report claims.
The Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds (CPG), which campaigns to ban greyhound racing, on Wednesday released a report on the performance of industry and government-funded greyhound adoption programs across the country.
The report, dismissed by the industry as inaccurate, suggests the various industry-led greyhound adoption programs rehomed only 2,000 dogs last year.
The report says about 12,000 greyhounds were bred in 2020 – 2,000 of which were never named and have not raced.
In New South Wales and Victoria, the report says, community-run services managed to rehome more greyhounds than the industry’s programs.
Greyhound adoption programs (GAPs) were a key element in the reform effort led by industry and governments in the wake of the shocking revelations of live baiting reported by the ABC in 2015.
The then NSW premier Mike Baird announced in August 2016 that the industry would be banned in his state, but was forced to reverse his position three months later.
“Six years on from the live baiting exposé in 2015, it would be reasonable to expect that the cashed-up GAPs have now overtaken the community rehoming effort, but it’s not the case,” CPG president Dennis Anderson said.
“With the boom in wagering over the last year, more money should be available for rehoming, but instead the industry has announced increased prize money.”
The report found the two state-funded GAPs in Queensland and Tasmania were now rehoming more dogs than community groups in those states, while the GAP in Western Australia has been rehoming more greyhounds than community groups for several years.
GAPs are not the only method of caring for retired greyhounds. Some animals are put through other industry-led initiatives.
The report suggested 14.35% of greyhounds taken into Queensland’s GAPs were subsequently euthanised, largely because they were unsuitable to be rehomed for health or behavioural reasons, and about 10% in NSW and Victoria.
Greyhound Racing NSW rejected the report’s findings and described it as “propaganda from activists that is dangled to selected media”.
The kill-rate figure was “categorically” rejected, the industry body said. It said it had rehomed 1,880 greyhounds through various programs, including the GAP, in 2020-21. It described it as a record year for rehoming, which would be helped further by a new farmstay being developed for retired greyhounds in the Hunter Valley.
The industry body said the number of greyhounds bred in NSW over the past five years was down 15,537 compared with the five previous years, and that the utilisation rate of dogs bred for racing had increased to 75%.
The Queensland Racing Integrity Commission (QRIC) said its GAP was only one of many ways in which rehoming was conducted.
A spokesperson said Queensland took in 260 greyhounds from the industry in 2019-20, rehoming 240 and euthanising 30 (11.5%. of intake), principally due to health and behavioural issues.
The CPG report criticised the Queensland government for allowing greyhounds to be used for research. The QRIC said on average five greyhounds a year were given to universities for this purpose, and only where they were already identified for euthanasia.
“The GAP Queensland, however, does take some greyhounds from the universities for rehoming,” a spokesperson said.
Greyhound Racing Victoria was also approached for comment.
