Animal rights | Australian states announce greyhound racing ban

Two Australian states yesterday took the decision to ban greyhound racing, adding extra pressure to a crumbling industry. Shortly after New South Wales (NSW) agreed to end the sport by July 2017, following advice of an investigative report commissioned by its local government, Australian Capital Territory (ACT) followed suit with its own prohibition.
Both states appear to have made their decision based on a NSW government investigation that was initiated 12 months ago. The subsequent report found that of the 97,783 greyhounds bred in NSW in the last 12 years, between 48,891 and 68,448 (50 -­­
70 percent) were killed “because they were considered too slow to pay their way or were unsuitable for racing.”
The report also highlighted the “systemic deception” of the public with regards to racing authorities’ reports, claiming that Greyhound Racing NSW had “adopted a policy of deliberately misreporting the extent of injuries suffered by greyhounds at racetracks.”
The main conclusion is that the industry is not capable of reforming in the short or medium term.
Anima (Macau) president Albano Martins believes that the closures are part of a larger worldwide trend that may see the sport reduced to just a handful of countries. “In the U.S., a lot of tracks are closing, also in Spain and in the U.K.,” he told the Times. “I will be in Portugal soon to discuss with the Minister of Agriculture the presence of illegal tracks [in the country].”
Commercial and legal greyhound racing only exists in eight countries around the world, but in more than 20 other countries non-commercial and often illegal racing occurs.
“China and Vietnam might be the only places left [for greyhound racing] one day. These are places with serious [disregard] for animal rights… but that’s a battle for the future,” he added.
The decisions will pile added pressure on the Macau government, which is expected to make a decision on the renewal of the Macau (Yat Yuen) Canidrome’s license this year.
Martins said that he is certain that the government “will make the right decision” this year, possibly before September.
“For sure, the government will make the right decision,” he said. “I believe that the Canidrome want to be responsible at least one time in its life […] they can’t get any more animals anyway, so it has to be this way.”