By Renee Wood
The latest death of a greyhound in Healesville has renewed calls from greyhound welfare advocates for the government to stop funding the racing industry.
On Sunday 11 September 2022 in race five, three races before the Healesville Cup, two year old Alcindor was euthanised after an incident in the catching pen.
The Steward’s Report states, “Alcindor faltered in the catching pen, underwent a post-race veterinary examination and was found to have a left hock fracture. Alcindor was humanely euthanised.”
The young greyhound is the 30th dog to have died on Victorian tracks this year.
The Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds (CPG) has recorded three greyhound deaths and 830 injuries at the Healesville track since the organisation began monitoring in January 2020.
CPG director Kylie Field believes all racing tracks are unsafe.
“Healesville is supposed to be a safe straight racetrack, but the death of Alcindor shows again that no track is safe,” Ms Field said.
“Every section of a track is unsafe, especially after the finish where catching pens try to stop dogs that are running at more than 60kmh. Injuries and deaths are inevitable.”
The CPG believes there is no transparency in death and injury data and there is also a rehoming crisis.
“Prize money can better be spent treating those greyhounds with broken legs rather than euthanising them,” she said.
Ms Field is calling on the State Government to cease funding the industry.
“Racing minister Anthony Carbines can’t stay silent on the unnecessary deaths of all these young greyhounds. The State Government can no longer justify subsidising a dog-killing industry with millions of taxpayer dollars when other community areas are desperate for funding.
“The only true festival will occur when greyhound racing is banned.”
Racing Minister Anthony Carbines said the government takes animal welfare seriously and the loss of a greyhound is distressing for all concerned.
“We continue to work with Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV) to safeguard racing greyhounds at every stage of their lives,” Mr Carbines said.
The government assists GRV with monitoring and the improvement of welfare standards, funding upgrades and initiatives such as supporting 14 animal welfare and integrity projects.
GRV has also worked with track design experts over the past decade to make tracks as safe as possible and the Greyhound Recovery Initiative which provides financial assistance to owners of injured dogs has been introduced.
“GRV has made a number of improvements to racing safety in recent years and as a result we’ve seen racing fatalities fall by more than 50 per cent since 2017.”
GRV was contacted for comment.
