After 70 years of racing, the Devonport track in Tasmania closed on March 22, 2022.
The racing track will replace the Devonport track, partially funded by the state government ($8 million). In Latrobe, the racetrack will be a $16 million greyhound and harness racing complex. The specific date, however, is uncertain at this moment. The DA has yet to go to the council. Therefore, the date is undetermined.
In the meantime, racing will be shifted to Hobart and Launceston, and the deaths and injuries will continue.
Racing participants lamented the track’s closure, but no one spared a thought for seven decades of greyhound suffering at Devonport (or the animals used in live baiting).
According to TasRacing annual statistics from FY2016, 936 greyhounds died in Tasmania, either dead or euthanized. At Devonport, the on-track vet would have euthanized many of these greyhounds.
At least nine greyhounds have died in racing there since January 1, 2020, with 203 others wounded.
The racing industry will naturally wish to forget these names, but we will not.
08/03/2022 YARAMUNDI HOOVER Open fracture of radius/ulna of the right foreleg
20/07/2021 ROJO NUGGET Severe compound fracture to the left humerus
11/05/2021 ZEVATRON Fractured left hock
23/03/2021 BLUE TWIST Fractured left humerus
09/03/2021 FRAMPTON Fractured right hock
02/02/2021 SIR ROGAN Fractured right hock
14/07/2020 BLACKWOOD RAGE Fractured hock
25/02/2020 GENDARME Fractured right hock
21/01/2020 VEIL FALLS Compound fracture of right hind hock
Some of their final moments have been captured:
