The report to Minister of Racing Grant Robertson today spells out the code is on notice and failure to make changes in both areas or dog welfare, both for racing dogs and retired ones, could see the entire greyhound racing industry's future in doubt.
The minister has asked for the Racing Integrity Board to oversee three key factors in the report and report back to him by the end to 2022 on whether GRNZ is making the necessary improvements.
Failure to do so could see, in the worst case, greyhound racing suspended or even closed down in this country.
Greyhound Racing New Zealand chief executive Glenda Hughes says her organisation accepts progress in dog welfare need to be maintained.
"We share the Government's determination to ensure animal care is our priority and our community will continue to focus on the wellbeing of our dogs," says Hughes.
"We will cement in the continued gains made under the new management.
"We accept that our current processes need to be maintained longer term in order to reassure the public and the Minister that progress has been made.
"We also accept we will continue to face criticism raised by anti-racing groups. We have and always will respect the social licence we have been granted."
Hughes says a new management team at GRNZ have already put in place more new policies and reporting mechanisms which have enabled them to achieve the current improvements.
"As one of the most regulated sectors of the animal population in New Zealand with the comprehensive data we now have we are more than happy and ready to comply with the recommendations in the report," adds Hughes.
GRNZ say they currently matching the number of dogs re-homed after retirement from racing with those bred annually.
"Animal Care is a key priority for all of our team and our licensed persons, and we welcome the opportunity for independent oversight from the newly established Racing Integrity Board," says Hughes.
The report, and GRNZ's response to it, suggest the code is in for far stricter regulations and oversight which is overdue and warranted.
Greyhound trainers and handlers, like most people in the racing industry, are almost always animal lovers and in any animal-based industry there will be unfortunate fatalities.
And we do have, some would say sadly, entire industries worldwide based around the actually planned killing of animals for food and profit.
It is hard to fein outrage at that if you eat meat, chicken or fish.
But none of the racing codes can afford to be seen to profit from practices that can lead to animal deaths, especially when the animals are the stars of the show.
For greyhound racing in this country reducing those numbers to as close as they can be to zero now has to be the single biggest focus heading forward.
