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Last week, in his capacity as Minister for Racing, Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson gave the greyhound racing industry an ultimatimum upon the release of the greyhound racing review. It was a scathing review, and today we’ll take a look at its findings and what it means for the future of greyhound racing.
Animal rights in Aotearoa New Zealand. Animal Matters is SAFE's podcast about all things animal rights and the issues impacting animals in Aotearoa. Will Appelbe and Courtney White discuss the latest current affairs impacting animals, the decisions of policymakers and government, and the complexities that surround the exploitation of animals.
Tena koe, nau mai haere mai. My name is Will Appelbe and you’re listening to Animal Matters.
Last week, in his capacity as Minister for Racing, Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson gave the greyhound racing industry an ultimatimum upon the release of the greyhound racing review. It was a scathing review, and today we’ll take a look at its findings and what it means for the future of greyhound racing.
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Last Thursday Racing Minister Grant Robertson released the long awaited Greyhound racing review with an ultimatum to the industry; 'either make the improvements needed or risk closure.'
The review was commissioned in April 2021 and completed by Sir Bruce Robertson, and it shows the industry has made little improvement since the Hansen Report in 2017.
There’s a fair bit to unpack, but it’s worth noting that this is the third such inquiry into greyhound racing in the last decade. In 2013, the WHK report made a slew of recommendations to improve animal welfare. Then in 2017, former High Court judge Rodney Hansen QC produced yet another report.
The Hansen Report found the number of greyhounds reported as euthanised was still at high levels. Over 1447 greyhounds had been euthanised in four years between 2013 and 2017. There was also evidence of widespread non-compliance with reporting requirements, which strongly suggested the true figure was much higher.
And on top of that, there were at least 1200 dogs unaccounted for in the four years since the first WHK report.
The Hansen Report also covered a range of other issues, including governance, welfare standards, racetrack safety, and population management including data collection, wastage, euthanasia, and rehoming. The report contained 20 recommendations for the racing industry to improve the standards of Greyhound Racing in New Zealand.
Greyhound Racing New Zealand accepted the recommendations made in the report. They began producing quarterly reports to the Government providing commentary on its progress in implementing the recommendations.
Those quarterly reports stopped though, and Greyhound Racing New Zealand submitted a final report to Winston Peters who was Racing Minister at the time, as well as Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor in June 2020.
This final report stated that all 20 recommendations made by Rodney Hansen in his report had been successfully implemented and progress reporting would no longer be presented to the Government.
This didn’t wash with animal advocates though. The Greyhound Protection League, as well as SAFE, continued to point out problems in the industry. Injuries were still at high levels towards the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021.
Eight dogs were killed on race tracks between December 18 last year and January 11 this year, which included five at the Whanganui Racetrack, which was gaining a reputation as a particularly dangerous course.
SAFE also found that 47 deaths had been omitted from Greyhound Racing New Zealand’s most recent annual report. And by carefully combing through judgements from the Judicial Control Authority and Racing Integrity Board, SAFE found multiple instances of doping, and at least two cases of a dog testing positive for methamphetamine.
But it wasn’t just animal advocate who were concerned. The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, the Government’s own advisors on animal welfare matters, expressed its concern that information provided by Greyhound Racing New Zealand was insufficient in proving the Hansen report’s recommendations had been completed.
This concern was voiced by the Meka Whaitiri who wrote to Greyhound Racing New Zealand in her capacity as the Minister responsible for animal welfare. This was echoed again in later communications between Greyhound Racing New Zealand and Grant Robertson as Minister for Racing.
The culmination of this correspondence and the ongoing incidents of deaths and injuries in the greyhound racing industry prompted Grant Robertson to announce in April this year that he would be commissioning another review of the greyhound racing industry. He also informed Greyhound Racing New Zealand that the continued incidents impacting dog welfare were unacceptable and the industry's social license was increasingly at risk.
This is where Sir Bruce Robertson comes in. Submissions were open to the public, and Sir Bruce invited key organisations to submit. This included those directly involved with the industry, as well as advocates like SAFE and the Greyhound Protection League.
The review found that thirteen recommendations from the Hansen Report were still areas of concern. Greyhound Racing New Zealand maintained that all recommendations had been sufficiently met and progress reports were no longer necessary.
But this stance has become a critical issue within the industry, and organisations such as the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committed maintain there is not enough evidence to support the industry’s position.
The review found that annual kennel audits are not occouring, and comprehensive information on how frequent these audits occour or the outcome of said audits is not available.
Some submitters were concerned that Health and Welfare standards aren’t being disseminated properly, and MPI were critical that outdated information on muzzels could still be found on Greyhound Racing New Zealand’s website.
Greyhound Racing New Zealand still hasn’t phased out ear branding, despite the widespread use of microchipping in greyhounds.
An upgrade of Greyhound Racing New Zealand’s database was raised as a critical issue in the Hansen report. Data collection appears to have improved since, but this data is difficult to access for any one not immediately involved with Greyhound Racing New Zealand, or the dog in question.
Those tasked with monitoring the industry, such as members of the Greyhound Racing New Zealand’s Health and Welfare Committee, or the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, have said it is incredibly difficult to obtain even the simplest information.
Auditing and verification of the database also appears to be below par. The Racing Integrity Unit are allegedly following this up, but it is not an ongoing or comprehensive audit.
There was also concern about the checks and audits of greyhounds that are privately rehomed.
The review notes that Greyhound Racing New Zealand now require approval by a veterinarian before for euthanasia is to occur. However, in some instances the review found that the process to decide whether euthanasia is needed has caused unnecessary delay and suffering for the greyhound in question due to the time taken to gain approval.
MPI officials also advised that veterinary approval does not ensure euthanasia is performed for a good reason, and a veterinarian has no power to prevent an owner or a trainer from requesting euthanasia in ‘unreasonable’ circumstances, like barking or other inconvenient behaviours, excess to requirements, or minor injury.
There have been improvements in the rehoming space, but there is still concern that rehoming is being used to offset the cost of excess greyhounds. There is still no public reduction targets, population projections, or estimates of the number of dogs needed for the industry each year. Around 800 dogs are bred each year, with another 150 imported per annum. From the most recent data provided, 22 per cent of dogs bred between 2017 and 2018 are never raced.
That’s just a summary of the lack of progress on recommendations made by the Hansen Report. But the review also looked at new issues that have emerged.
Criticisms were made that the rehoming of dogs gave well-meaning adopters a significant personal and financial burden. Many dogs are not suitable for rehoming, due to behaviours, the negative impacts of racing on overall health often don’t present until a dog is settled into a new home.
The review points out that there has been an obvious effort by the industry to reduce the reliance on euthanasia when dealing with injured dogs, or dogs that are difficult to rehome. This has bought down the numbers euthanised off track since 2017. 57 dogs were euthanised due to aggression, 119 due to illness and 285 due to accident or injury. But there was still 462 dogs euthanised for non-medical reasons. In other words, no reason was given for almost half of the dogs euthanised away from the race track since 2017.
There’s also concern that Greyhound Racing New Zealand’s single midded focus on reducing the rates of euthanasia is also negatively impacting the welfare of greyhounds. Some submitters to the review suggested that injured dogs were being kept alive despite servere injuries, and other dogs are facing a life time in kennels.
Other submitters noted that the avoidance of euthanasia has meant the industry is approving dogs for rehoming despite being unsuitable.
The review went on to state that while it seems counterintuitive to suggest euthanasia rates increase, GRNZ and the industry must consider whether the reputation of the industry based on a single metric is being prioritised over animal welfare standards.
This is but a snap shot of the review. There are 21 pages and there’s a lot of detail that we can’t include in a single episode. It’s worth reading on the Department of Internal Affairs website.
It’s a scathing review and Grant Robertson’s reaction makes it pretty clear what he thinks of it.
The Minister has pointed to three fundamental issues that still need to be addressed as a result of this report, which are data recording, transparency of all activities, and animal welfare generally. The Racing Integrity Board has now been tasked with identifying a specific set of indicators for each of those issues that will be used to assess the industry’s progress, reporting back to the Minister before the end of next year.
This is a shorter period than recommended by Sir Bruce Robertson in the review, but Minister stated that the urgency of the issues raised in the report justify such a short time frame.
While I would have liked greyhound racing to be banned yesterday, this is actually a good direction of travel. The language that Grant Robertson is using suggests he’s taking this seriously and he’s coming down hard on the industry. Greyhound Racing Industry had three and a half years to get their house in order before this latest review was launched. Now they have 14 months to prove they have made improvements, or face closure.
That’s a tall order, especially for an industry where good animal welfare standards, transparency and data collection don’t come naturally.
Sadly though dogs will continue to suffer until we have a complete ban on greyhound racing, and it will continue for at least the next year. But greyhound racing’s days are certainly numbered.
Thank you for listening to Animal Matters. This podcast is bought to you by SAFE for Animals, New Zealand’s leading animal rights organisation, and produced by myself, Will Appelbe.
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Until next time, mā te wā