Skintight’s sad death on 14 October 2021 showed there are many ways for greyhounds to die on a racetrack.
The three-year old died in the catching pen at Casino NSW in an incident that raises quite a few questions.
To quote the stewards’ report: “Following an incident in the catching pen after the event, SKINTIGHT (3) collapsed after coming into contact with a trainer and was unable to be revived. A full post-mortem will be conducted.”
The catching pen is the area which stops the dogs at the end of the race, and is a well-known killing zone.
Skintight had been forced to run in 45 races on Casino and Grafton tracks.
Five greyhounds have now died in the North Coast/Northern Rivers region this year (Casino 3, Grafton 1, Lismore 1).
51 greyhounds have been killed on NSW tracks this year, compared to 48 for all of 2020. In the same period last year (1 Jan – 14 October), 37 dogs died in NSW; deaths this year have increased by 38 percent.
133 greyhounds have now been killed nationwide in 2021 while racing (all listed here).
Nine of those dogs collapsed and died with internal injuries.
Sixteen of the 133 have been killed in catching pens, because there’s no really safe way to stop a group of fast-running greyhounds without endangering their lives.
We await the autopsy report on poor Skintight, but the senseless deaths will continue.
Image shows Skintight in his final race, about to meet his death in the catching pen.