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Sports correspondent & historian with |
Last Friday marked the end of commercial greyhound racing in New Zealand, when the final race concluded at Hatrick Raceway in Whanganui.
Minister for Racing Winston Peters pulled the pin on the commercial operation of the sport. For many opponents of the sport, the decision reflected a belief that animal welfare concerns had not been satisfactorily addressed over many years.
The cessation of commercial greyhound racing has opened another can of worms: what do you do with the 1400 dogs that needed to be rehomed from August 1.
The roots of greyhound racing in New Zealand trace back to the importation of greyhounds and whippets in the late 1880s to deal with the rampant hare population of the day.
During the early to mid-1990s, greyhound racing evolved with little public recognition and few financial rewards for participants. Equalisator betting, introduced in 1972, where randomly drawn race numbers allocated winning and losing tickets, was the first step towards betting on the dogs.
On-course betting began in 1978, with full TAB facilities introduced in March 1981. TAB betting put greyhound racing on a par with thoroughbred and standardbred racing, with stake money increasing substantially.
As the sport grew commercially, concerns were increasingly raised about integrity issues and animal welfare standards.
Over the years, cases involving doping and allegations of live baiting damaged public confidence in the industry. Animal rights activists highlighted the injury toll in greyhound racing.
However, in my opinion, the biggest reason for ending greyhound racing was what became known as “greyhound population management”.
Greyhounds were required to be registered as pups and deregistered when they retired from trainers’ kennels. Concerns about the fate of dogs that were unsuitable for racing became a major source of criticism of the industry.
The Greyhound Transition Agency has been established to manage the large number of dogs currently in trainers’ kennels and to oversee their rehoming through major greyhound adoption charities.
Prominently featured on the GTA website is its No 1 goal: “Greyhounds are cared for and rehomed.” It states: “We are bringing experienced greyhound carers, rehoming experts and trusted adoption agencies together, and supporting them with resources, funding and coordination, so every greyhound is well cared for, well prepared and matched with the right home.”
Those commitments are admirable, but the real test will be how effectively they are delivered in practice.
There are mission statements and management plans on the GTA website that look very flash and impressive. Rehoming more than 1400 dogs is a substantial undertaking, and the success of the programme will ultimately be judged by its results rather than its planning documents.
Greyhounds make wonderful pets, as our family knows after giving a greyhound named Henry a forever home for six and a half years before he died.
Sleeping upside down on the couch seems to be a retired greyhound’s main goal in life, and they lap up human attention.
The animal-loving public of New Zealand can play a big part in the successful rehoming of the many greyhounds still in trainers’ kennels by adopting one of these gentle dogs.
I would sincerely recommend greyhound adoption, and a good starting point is the websites of the major rehoming agencies: Greyhounds as Pets, May Hounds and Nightrave Greyhounds.