The Hunter’s greyhound racing community has called for a clean-out so they can rebuild their industry.
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The call follows news that the Hunter Valley, including the Keinbah Trial Track at Cessnock, is under police investigation after a tip-off about mass greyhound burial sites.
“The greatest attribute of the industry is that all of this is coming to a head,” Greyhound Action Group Hunter greyhound educator Bob Whitelaw said.
“When all of the news broke there were a lot of people who said ‘look, we are at the forefront of all of this and it’s time we got on the front foot to take it forward’.
“But it comes down to inaction by Greyhound Racing NSW, that’s why we are in this position today.”
Mr Whitelaw said the biggest problem in greyhound racing was the corruption and failure of the regulatory bodies to keep people in check.
In February, the GRNSW board and chief executive Brent Hogan stood down in the wake of the live baiting scandal.
With issues around the integrity of the organisation, the board’s powers were passed to interim CEO Paul Newson.
“It has been widely acknowledged that industry supervision has not been adequate and that the current GRNSW structure of self-regulation has failed to properly police industry integrity and animal welfare concerns,” a GRNSW spokesman said.
“It is appropriate to acknowledge this failure and accept that industry supervision should have been more robust, however, this failure does not excuse the behaviour of any industry participants who engage in acts of animal cruelty.
“Since Paul Newson took on the role of interim CEO, GRNSW has begun to implement a number of new initiatives to help improve integrity and welfare outcomes.
“While initial efforts have included a focus on enhancing GRNSW compliance and enforcement capability, concurrent work is under way to substantially reform the approach to greyhound welfare to ensure the health and well being of greyhounds is a central consideration going forward.
“Initiatives under consideration include an independent review of current practices in greyhound rearing, socialisation, education and training methods to assist GRNSW to provide increased guidance and support to participants and transition the industry to a more contemporary and sustainable approach.
“There are some challenging issues to be addressed and all industry participants have a role in condemning any form of mistreatment of animals and contributing to improved welfare and integrity outcomes to ensure the sport can recover public confidence and continue to make a social and economic contribution to NSW.”
Cessnock District Agricultural Association president and greyhound trainer Jeff Jaeger agreed that the local racing community would be open to a clean-up.
“We want to see it take its course,” he said.
“It got out of hand, it took a lot of people by surprise and most people were shocked by it.
“I don’t blame people for being upset, but not everyone that owns a greyhound is a dunce.”
Mr Jaeger said there had always been whispers in the local racing community of unethical practices, but no one new the extent of it.
“There was plenty of discussion, but people didn’t know how much of a big deal this is,” he said.
“My message to people in the industry is just hang on,” Mr Jaeger said.
“We will come out the other side of this and we will rebuild.”
