by Dr Victoria Sublette, Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds
Championing greyhound welfare
After more than two years of cancellations due to COVID, an Australia-wide conference for animal welfare advocates came to fruition. More than 300 attendees and 240 speakers from 28 different organisations gathered together on February 24-25 at the iconic Town Hall in Melbourne for the long awaited Animal Rights Forum 2024. They were involved in areas such as as legal and legislative reform, animal care, direct action, agitation for change, and animal protection
The event included a day of activism on Friday before the two-day conference. Having so many greyhound advocates from around Australia was too big an opportunity to ignore and CPG along with key allies Free the Hounds and Blue the Grey chose to bring advocates together. This was the first time many long time friends were able to meet and connect in person!
This was the first time many long time friends were able to meet and connect in person!
Pictured are greyhound lovers and advocates from CPG, Free the Hounds, Blue the Grey, the Greens and GREY2K USA Worldwide
The Greyhound Workshop
The greyhound workshop was organised by our own CPG President, Andrea Pollard, Kim Oxley of Blue the Grey, and Melissa Harrison of Free the Hounds. This workshop was a full day event where we sat at tables with rotating groups discussing key issues currently facing the greyhound advocacy movement in Australia.
We had an amazing gathering of people from all over Australia as well as a couple of very special Americans. The 40 attendees included Georgie Purcell, Animal Justice Party MP from Victoria, and a quick but very special visit from NSW Senator Mehreen Faruqi who was not attending the conference, but made a special appearance at our Greyhound Workshop to show her support. From America, Christine Dorchak and Carey Theil of GREY2K USA Worldwide came straight from the plane!
There was so much wisdom and experience in the room throughout these discussions and the only real surprise that came out of the sessions was how in agreement we all were with identifying the issues and possible solutions.
The next two days were a whirlwind of activity for those of us volunteering and those having stalls at the Animal Defenders Expo (including CPG!).
There was so much wisdom and experience in the room throughout these discussions
The only real surprise that came out of the sessions was how in agreement we all were with identifying the issues and possible solutions
The Greyhound Discussion Panel
Sunday was our big day as it was our ARF Greyhound Discussion Forum. I was delighted to be the host and to be in the company of such amazing Greyhound welfare royalty. The panel included: our Andrea Pollard, Carey Theil of GREY2K USA Worldwide, Kristy Alger of Animal Liberation Tasmania, Martina Best of Amazing Greys Melbourne, Lisa White of Friends of the Hound NSW, and Melissa Harrison of Free the Hounds WA. I had planned for Georgie Purcell to be in the audience for the export question.
Right after The Little Grey Film was played, I played a short cute video of how quirky and lovable Greyhounds are and then introduced our panel. They were each asked the following questions:
- What are your organisation’s primary objectives in relation to Greyhound racing?
- What would you like the public to know, and what methods are you using to tell them?
- How can we unite together Australia-wide with a core strategy campaign to end greyhound racing that includes all groups in all states?
- Last question to Georgie Purcell to lead: As a greyhound welfare advocate, could you please explain why we want to stop the live export of greyhounds?
Earlier in the day, I attended a session with Georgie Purcell and Emma Hurst, MP AJP NSW, and as I confirmed panel times with Georgie, I asked Emma if she would come to our session as well. And she did! She and Georgie both participated and offered much valuable insight. As a group, we were very fortunate to be strongly supported by such well-spoken and intelligent politicians and greyhound advocates.
The opportunity to share mind space with others in our greyhound community was priceless. Many of us left the conference energised, more focused, and with a larger network of people we can work with in the future. CPG’s strong presence and leadership at the conference well placed us as key influencers in greyhound advocacy.
Many of us left the conference energised, more focused, and with a larger network of people we can work with in the future.
CPG’s strong presence and leadership at the conference well placed us as key influencers in greyhound advocacy.