A long-time greyhound trainer says the Government’s ban on dog racing is a disaster, and it is unrealistic to think thousands of dogs can be rehomed in less than two years.
MPs rushed through legislation on Tuesday to stop the unnecessary killing of dogs after the announcement. There will be a 20-month wind-down with up to 3500 dogs to be rehomed.
Racing Minister Winston Peters said dog deaths and injury rates remained consistently high, with no evidence that stricter rules would change that, and it was a tough but right decision to put animal welfare first.
Craig Roberts, a long-time leading Canterbury greyhound trainer and member of the National Greyhound Racing New Zealand (GRNZ) board, told Checkpoint he was surprised by the ban.
“We had absolutely no knowledge of this whatsoever until late in the morning, the president of the Manawatū Greyhound Racing Club rang our head office saying that he’d been approached by a TV channel … and that Winston Peters would be there making a decision on greyhound racing.
“We have had no communication – and I mean zero communication – from Winston Peters since he has held office of Racing Minister.
“I think it’s disgusting, absolutely disgraceful behaviour of the minister to treat our industry like that.”
He said GRNZ had been getting progress reviews from its independent racing body and had been providing these reviews to the Department of Internal Affairs and the minister’s office.
“They were getting the correct facts and figures from GRNZ as to how we were progressing with our welfare and rehoming policies. We have undergone massive, massive change over the last two to three years. We would be the most heavily regulated sporting body in the country.”
In an announcement on Tuesday, Peters acknowledged the improvements made in the industry, but said there were still high injury rates.
Greyhound racing has been outlawed in New Zealand. Photo / File-123RF
In the 2023 to 2024 season there were 900 injuries, nine deaths of dogs on the track and four that died immediately after racing.
Peters said there was no evidence that stricter rules would help with those statistics.
“It’s inevitable in the racing industry, whether it be greyhounds, harness, or thoroughbreds, it’s inevitable in the industry that … there is going to be casualties,” Roberts said.
“If I own a retriever dog and it goes out on the road and gets run over, which happens on a daily basis all around New Zealand; there are pet dogs that go to dog parks and get mauled by other dogs.
“What, do we stop pig hunting? Pig hunting dogs go out into the wilderness and get mauled by pigs. Are we picking on one little industry that’s easy to pick on?”
Roberts said he had 75 dogs and it would be difficult to rehome them.
“That is absolutely ridiculous to think the greyhounds will be rehomed in 20 months. It will take years to wind down the industry and get all the greyhounds rehomed.”
Most owners would keep the dogs to ensure they got rehomed, he said.
“I’m not in the industry to be willy nilly putting animals down, that’s ridiculous. The minister is going to have to revisit this, because what he is asking is absolutely unrealistic and not achievable.”
- RNZ
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