13/12/2024
This weeks announcement of Greyhound racing being banned has left us all in shock and feeling absolutely devasted.
There are so many things wrong wit the way this has been handled so we thought it may be helpful to state some facts.
GRNZ have not had any correspondence with the Minister for Racing, despite GRNZ's many requests to meet over the past months and even more disturbingly, have still heard absolutely nothing after this weeks announcement.
GRNZ were only made aware of what was happening due to the media requesting to film at Palmerston North in regards to the ministers announcement. This was only approximately 2 hours before the announcement was made.
The 20 month timeframe to close down this industry is completely unrealistic. A record number of 673 Greyhounds were rehomed last year, at this rate it would take around 4 years to rehome all the dogs.
All Greyhounds are desexed upon rehoming. That means in around 10-15 years time, there will be very few Greyhounds left in New Zealand. Its funny the activists claim to love these animals so much but have now played a detrimental part in the breeds demise.
There were 36,063 starters last year and 13 deaths, only 9 of which were the result of racing injuries. This clearly shows the industry has immensely improved and continues to improve. There were 700 injuries/standdowns amongst these starters. A lot of these were precautionary due to a clash or fall during a race where the on track veterinarian could not find any initial injury.
There is no way to ever guarantee that any animal/pet would live its life injury free. Greyhounds get to race on a perfectly groomed surface that is specific to their needs.
Every trainer with a Greyhound will be doing everything they can to prevent the SPCA getting their hands on any of our dogs. They can not rehome the current animals they have and are notorious for putting animals down. I wonder where their transparency is. Greyhound rehoming agencies are experts in what they do, taking the time and patience in making the perfect matches between the Greyhounds and the families they go with. It is alarming the information the SPCA have released to the public suggesting greyhounds need 20 minutes of exercise 2x daily, this shows how little they really know about the breed.
There is also the huge dilemma of what will happen once the 20 months is up. There will still be dogs left to rehome and trainers with larger numbers of dogs may still have a big number to care for left. Caring for these animals to the standards any trainer would hold themselves to, will be a full time job. With no income coming in to cover this and the trainer being stuck having to care for these animals until they are rehomed, the question of how people are suppose to survive and provide for their families is left unanswered.
Greyhound racing would have the highest level of regulation and animal welfare standards in New Zealand out of any industry (or hobby) including animals.
