This dog’s name is Gidget.
She’s sweet natured, she’s the perfect house guest, and she gets so excited when she’s with people that “her tail wagging nearly takes her into orbit”.
Gidget is an ex-racing greyhound who is currently up for adoption, because in her industry she is considered “wastage”.
What does that mean? Essentially, Gidget isn’t a profitable racer – and if she wasn’t being put up for adoption, she would be euthanised.
Last year, the ABC’s 7.30 Report ran an investigation into the greyhound racing industry in NSW. What they discovered were allegations of widespread doping, collusion, and animal cruelty.
The Australian greyhound racing industry is the third biggest in the world, and Australians spend about $3 billion in wagers on the sport every year. There’s big money involved and that money means there’s a lot of incentive for breeders and trainers to have the fastest dogs. This incentive has led to massive over-breeding in the industry. In fact, 40 per cent of greyhounds born every year in Australia, will never actually race – because they’re not fast enough.
The dogs that win races are profitable, and be used in breeding programs when they start to slow down. The dogs that are too slow to begin with, are considered wastage.
This results in up to 17,000 dogs being killed each year.
Inez Hamilton-Smith from Gone are the Dogs explains, “Greyhounds are seen as commodities and their value relies on their ability to run fast… It is perfectly legal to breed large numbers of greyhounds, in order to try and to get a fast one and then dispose of the rest.”
Animal advocates say that as well as more humane methods of euthanisation, dogs are sometimes shot dead or killed with a hammer to the head. Industry insiders told the 7.30 Report that puppies are sometimes drowned.
One of the more unpalatable methods of eauthanisation, is the routine practice of draining greyhounds of their blood, before finally letting them die. These dogs are going to be killed anyway, and their blood will be used to treat other sick dogs – but that doesn’t make it any easier for the people who have to kill the dogs.
Veterinary nurse Victoria Luxton-Bain told the 7.30 Report that, “I still remember the first time I had to do it and I couldn’t stop crying … My worst day was we had seven brought in by one person and you just had to do seven, one after the other.”
“When you’re euthanising these dogs, they’re not old dogs, they’re completely healthy, and most of them are still standing there wagging their tails and licking your face while you’re actually euthanising them.”
Since last year, Greyhound Racing NSW has ramped up its efforts in re-homing dogs after their racing careers are finished – but that’s a lot of dogs to find homes for, and not every dog is lucky.
As well as wastage, there’s the common problem of dogs injured on the track being put down. Injures received when racing, such as fractures, can take a long time to heal – and no one wants the animals to be in pain. (Of course, the dogs wouldn’t have been hurt in the first place, if they weren’t racing at all.)
The tragedy is, there are many hobbyists in greyhound racing. They care for their dogs. They love their dogs.
But ultimately, greyhound racing isn’t just a hobby. It’s an industry.
And because it’s an industry, it’s operated like a business. It has to be.
Lisa White, President of Friends of the Hound – a group committed to rehoming dogs and advocacy – is unequivocal when she talks about the industry.
Lisa continues, “60 percent of Australians own a dog. Imagine if up to 17,000 Poodles or Labradors were killed annually for our betting entertainment?”
Both Lisa from Friends of the Hound and Inez from Gone are the Dogs say that the attitude towards greyhound racing is slowly changing – both from members of the public, and industry insiders.
But in the meantime, 17,000 dogs are being killed each year – and it would obtuse to argue that breeding animals for entertainment alone, knowing that they will have to die, is anything other than animal cruelty.
Is killing greyhounds for gambling okay? I wouldn’t bet on it.
Here are some of the other beautiful dogs available for adoption through Friends of the Hound.
Greyhounds are not just race dogs. They make devoted family pets, and are suitable dogs for suburban homes and people of all ages. Some organisations working to re-home greyhounds include Friends of the Hound and Greyhound Rescue. There are many more organisations – please feel free to share links in the comments below.
Gone are the Dogs are working to stop the overbreeding of greyhounds; stop taxpayers’ money funding this industry; and stop greyhounds being exported to China, among other issues. To support their efforts, visit Gone are the Dogs here.
If you believe that over-breeding greyhounds is wrong, please share this post to help raise awareness.
Top Comments
Perhaps attending a race or two and talking with owners of both racing and retired dogs might be more productive, and might give a more accurate view of the the situation. It will almost certainly dispel many myths too, if more interaction took place amongst the parties concerned, Yes, the crowd at the dog races will generally be a lot rougher and tougher than the average mothers' meeting, I can guarantee that, but most of the hearts there are in the right place, and the hysterical barking at the beginning of each race by dogs that rarely if ever bark at home, and the excited leaping and tumbling around at the end when the barrier is put up, shows that there is not a lot of suffering on the track. Yes, there are accidents - as there are at most athletic and sports events involving humans too. How many of you have lost a beloved pet over the years by poisoning, an accident in the garden or being hit by a car? Whose fault is that, if there even is one?
I am sure more retired dogs would find homes without these abusive and often emotive calls to shut the industry down there and then. After all, the owners and trainers are the ones raising, training and paying a lot of money along the way for the dogs - the ones you are getting for virtually nothing - already toilet and lead trained, sleeping through the night and sleeping away the day, while you are out and about or at work. All the hard work already done with no acknowledgement of that, and no respect for the unconditional effort that the dog itself has put into its racing career, all of which is there to see on the Internet for every registered dog.
And you wonder why the racing people and hobbyists won't surrender their dogs that they can no longer care for, for whatever reason, to strangers. Uninformed, abusive, judgmental, obsessive and possibly neurotic people - some of whom, unfortunately, are not equipped to care for a large dog in the first place. Foster carers for these dogs I have great respect for, but there are plenty "adopted" and then returned to the rescue groups - citing ill-health or relocation or simply fear. There are people more interested in making a political statement and "rescuing" a dog they seem to think they deserve a pat on the back for, by saving it from a life of myth-driven cruelty and assumed death, all perpetuated by social media, All pets are a responsibility and are not substitute children, and racing dogs are not all neglected or abused either. The industry has received a wakeup call, but it is the responsibility of all of us to meet the industry in the middle - for the sake of the dogs.
Melissa, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for writing this article ( and so does my Eddie) xx
Thanks Chef. xx