New data received by the Greens in response to Estimates’ questions on notice shatters yet another illusion TasRacing and the greyhound racing industry have tried to promote.
The industry wants the public to believe there are many hundreds of people training and racing greyhounds in the Tasmania. These figures show that’s not the case – most greyhounds are trained by a small number of trainers.
The figures show:
- There are 125 registered trainers in Tasmania, but a quarter of these don’t even have a dog registered to them.
- One trainer alone is responsible for more than 1 in 10 greyhounds who are racing
- 40% of the 765 greyhounds in the industry are registered to just 10 trainers
- Two-thirds (512) of greyhounds are registered to just 28 trainers
I think most Tasmanians would be pretty surprised to learn that less than 30 people are responsible for training two-thirds of racing greyhounds in Tasmania. This is not the picture the industry wants the public to see.
These figures show greyhound racing in the state is mostly made up of a small number of people who repeatedly expose a large number of dogs to extreme risk of injury and death.
The greyhound racing industry has tried to claim it’s a major industry with minimal impact on animals. But the truth is quite the opposite – on both fronts.
Every week in there are greyhounds being injured at Elwick and Mowbray. These injuries can be catastrophic and tragically have fatal consequences. And this devastating harm has been allowed to continue despite the low number of people who are actually training and racing these dogs for profit.
As a state we have a choice. We can end this cruel and outdated practice. The vast majority of Tasmanians agree with phasing out the industry.
In Parliament, where the rubber will hit the road on this issue, only Tasmanian Labor and a handful of independent MLCs have yet to see the light.
There is still time for them to be on the right side of history.
