Yesterday, a terrific thing happened in NSW. The Premier, Mike Baird, made a decision. In politics these days, this is very rare. But in this case, the abolition of greyhound racing a wonderful victory for the rights of animals, particularly the 68,000 dogs who have been killed in the past 12 years because they can’t run fast enough. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of defenseless piglets, possums, rabbits and other small animals who are routinely used as live bait during training.
Yes, jobs will be lost. Yes an industry will be decimated. But a far-reaching enquiry, prompted by the superb investigative report into greyhound racing by Four Corners journo Caro Meldrum Hanna has shown unequivically that this is an industry built on systemic animal cruelty and torture. And Mike Baird – along with his deputy who has a family member involved in the Greyhound racing industry – decided it was immoral to allow it to continue. I’m comfortable with that. Are you?
RSPCA says the banning of greyhound racing in NSW will go down as one of the biggest days for animal welfare in the state’s history #nswpol
— Sarah Gerathy (@sarahgerathy) July 7, 2016
I spoke to a woman who used to work as a vet until recently. What she told me was horrifying. “In my first job as a vet I had to euthanise greyhounds regularly. It was heartbreaking. The owners would drop them off in groups of three or five and leave us to it. Contrary to what many people think, greyhounds are in general very gentle, sweet dogs. They would hold their legs up for me and often look for a little bit of affection while they waited for whatever I was going to do. I wish that I had never had to do this, and I would like to think now that I probably wouldn’t. But as sad as this was, these dogs were some of the lucky ones – they were euthanased humanely. I don’t believe that all greyhound trainers are cruel people or have cruel practices, but I suspect many of them do. And I think that it is an industry built on death. I can only welcome this ban, and to anyone who is in a position to welcome a canine friend to their home over the next year or so, consider a greyhound.”
FOUR PAWS Australia celebrates the end of #greyhoundracing in NSW! Consider fostering and saving a life. pic.twitter.com/GMSdIU8VpM — FOUR PAWS Australia (@fourpawsAU) July 7, 2016
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I have 6 rescued greyhounds and they are the single most amazing family dogs ever. None of them had ever been around children and 4 of them had I believe been live baited and 1 was used by SA university as a lab dog, but they have all given everything not just to my grandchildren, but to my smaller rescue dogs. I can't trust them with cats or my rescued possum, but these are issues I can deal with due to the property I live on. I trust them totally with my grandchildren because I have seen kids fall on them, hit them (babies), be rough with them in playtime and never once have they shown aggression. I do watch them and I do tell the kids to back off, the children are never left alone with the dogs. I would give a greyhound a family home anytime
Love my hound and foster too. Highly recommend Greyhound Rescue Victoria -- www.greysrescuevic.org if you're in Vic