NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is deeply involved with greyhounds, and many people gave a “shitstorm” response to his social media post supporting the greyhound racing sector.
In an Instagram post, the then Treasurer seriously misread the general public’s view of his taxpayers’ funded support for the greyhound racing industry by declaring it “is important for many communities in NSW”.
The thousands of responses were caustic, with commenters describing the industry as “barbaric”, “a disgrace”, “a monstrous ‘sport’”, “cruel and outdated”, and “sponsored animal cruelty”.
A sample of social media responses:
Richiepatmore: Not long ago, the LNP led the state and nation in pledging to end this disgusting sport, which manufactures cruelty and misery for the animals and perpetuates the family crises of problem gambling. I would have thought that a man of faith would be looking to end (an) industry that supports gambling and breaks families apart.
jayce_the_greyhound: This is a dying industry, plagued by scandals and obsolete in modern society. If it can’t financially support itself, the Government should not be wasting taxpayer money on it.
Croczillionare: Greyhound racing is archaic and cruel. We will never forget the mass graves full of the bodies of the poor dogs used for immoral gambling.
Then, with the hashtag #poopforperrottet trending on Instagram, greyhound fans across NSW and Australia dumped on Perrottet by tagging him in several pictures of their dogs, um, dumping. Photoshopped images even depicted greyhounds passing little turds in the shape of Perrottets.
And here’s what people and their hounds thought of it all:
astro.the.grey– Racing greyhounds leads to hundreds of deaths per year and thousands of injuries. For what? It is not a sport, it is barbaric and should not be supported. End greyhound racing.
when.odi.met.anny– @dom.perrottet- this is exactly what I think about your policies and support for the greyhound racing industry (image of greyhound in a natty tartan coat pooing)
tam_tam_the_grey– Dominic Perrottet- if you genuinely cared about improving the safety and welfare of racing greyhounds like myself, who continue to carry the mental and physical scars from racing, you would ban greyhound racing, not continue to fund it with valuable taxpayer money. 52 greyhounds have been killed on NSW tracks so far in 2021.
ready_unsteady– greyhound racing sucks, I WOULD KNOW.
The social media shitstorm was reported by media outlets Junkee and Pedestrian TV (“Australia’s House Of Pop Culture”).
Fairfax journalist Peter Fitzsimons in the Sydney Morning Herald also responded, telling the Premier to “wake up”. He finished with: “Personally putting taxpayers’ dollars to a sport notorious for its cruelty that can’t pay its way? Seriously?”.
We couldn’t agree more.
Image sourced from Pedestrian TV.
About CPG
A ban on greyhound racing is a priority for the Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds. We fight to end racing greyhounds’ misery up until that time. Our initiatives aim to sway public opinion and are directed at state governments.