by Warren Young
Adjunct Associate Professor, Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Federation University Australia
Image shows a NSW greyhound being carried off the track after suffering a broken hock while racing. She was euthanised by the on-track vet shortly afterwards. Image courtesy of the Farm Transparency Project.
According to the Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission (GWIC), veterinarians monitor greyhounds before each race to ensure they are fit to race, observe their performance during races to identify possible injuries or signs of stress, carry out post-race reviews to check on greyhound recovery, and supervise the collection of samples for analysis.
GWIC also states that if a greyhound is injured on a racetrack, a vet will provide immediate assistance and advice to ensure the health and wellbeing of the greyhound remains paramount. Vets work closely with stewards to ensure that animal welfare is maintained on and off the track, and are involved in assessments of cases of alleged animal cruelty or suspected neglect. They will also participate in GWIC inquiries and investigations where matters of animal welfare or prohibited substances are involved.
Lifting the lid on animal cruelty
In 2016, veterinarian Dr Greg Bryant worked in the NSW greyhound racing industry, and saw things that he found “hard to accept”. Over a 7-month period, he had to put down 12 dogs due to severe racing injuries, and stated “when you’re euthanising a greyhound, they’re looking at you with their eyes, they’re expecting you to help them, and you’re not. You’re taking their life”.
Once Dr Bryant disallowed a dog from running due to its poor health, and the greyhound trainer turned on him. On another occasion, he ruled out a dog with a cut four inches long on its hind leg, and its owner threatened to kill him. Dr Bryant also noted in his diary that stewards chose not to report on track injuries and euthanasia. One steward justified this breach of the rules by saying he didn’t want to give the “greenies anything to complain about”.
Nothing has changed
Since vet professionals have an important and challenging role in the greyhound racing industry, CPG decided to conduct an online interview with a vet professional to gain insights into their recent observations. The professional was asked about their role and to share their observations.
Because what they saw was damning of the industry, the vet professional wanted to remain anonymous due to fear of retribution. We will use the pseudonym “Robin” to refer to the professional.
Robin spent about three years working as a vet professional and therefore had an extended amount of time to view the industry from the “inside”. Robin eventually had to leave the job in the greyhound racing industry because it was too distressing due to “a combination of both the workplace culture and regular, almost normalised mistreatment of the dogs”.
A "toxic" workplace culture
Robin described the workplace culture as “toxic” due to witnessing frequent instances of sexual harassment of younger females from industry participants, as well as bullying, favouritism, and putting staff into blatantly dangerous situations.
There were many examples of cruelty to dogs from trainers and industry participants, as well as dishonesty, such as:
- Rough handling, including hitting dogs.
- Wanting to provide illegal medication.
- A trainer hit a greyhound across the eyes because it fell and did not complete the race. “There was no repercussion from the stewards”.
- Minor injuries including muscle tears were hidden from the on-track vet so they did not receive a stand down period, and could continue to race.
- Dogs were over-raced 2-3 times a week.
- Greyhounds were returned to the kennel directly after a race without having a drink and cool down time.
- When witnessing traumatic injuries, vet professionals were expected to brush it under the rug and not speak of it again, and to not talk about what goes on with “outsiders”.
These observations led Robin to conclude that although the vet profession’s role and service should be to the dogs themselves, the “nature of greyhound racing directly opposes the goals of veterinary medicine”.
This means that the health and welfare of greyhounds is not the main concern of the greyhound racing industry, but rather it’s about providing entertainment for gambling purposes. The greyhounds themselves are just expendable commodities, which is understandably offensive to many in the vet profession and the wider community.