Some six years after a Special Commission of Inquiry into the New South Wales greyhound racing industry, a new e-tracking system has been launched to monitor the location and welfare of the animals.
The new technology means registered greyhounds can be sighted, scanned and accounted for on a regular basis throughout their lifespan.
NSW Minister for Racing Kevin Anderson said the initiative would operate at more than 40 locations across the state and aimed to ensure best practice within the greyhound racing industry.
"Whenever they present at a race track, the wand will be put over their back and it will send information back to the Greyhound Welfare Integrity Commission (GWIC)."
Mr Anderson said the GWIC would check-in with owners when a dog is retired from racing.
GWIC chief executive Steve Griffin said the state government's previous $3.6 million investment into the digitalisation of the sport enabled the NSW racing industry to have the highest standards of welfare integrity in Australia, if not the world.
"Racing greyhounds will need to have contact with GWIC at least every six months, and [for] pre-racing or retired greyhounds, every 12 months.
"By this time next year, we'll be able to account for every greyhound in NSW, which is something that is unique in the world, unique in not only greyhound racing but also all three codes of racing."
Monitoring injuries
Mr Griffin said the e-track data would enable greater insight into race-track injuries.
"They are not about tracks themselves necessarily — they relate to pre-existing injuries, the way that the greyhound has been trained or potentially overtrained or over-raced," he said.
The initiative has received support from Greyhound Racing NSW.
Greyhound As Pets NSW general manager Dr Alicia Fuller said she could not wait to help GWIC to get the e-tracking, data and insights going.
"It is just absolutely fantastic for the industry," she said.
It's just 'smoke and mirrors'
But Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds director Kylie Field said the new initiative was simply "smoke and mirrors" and no amount of safety initiatives could make greyhound racing safer, as it was inherently dangerous for dogs.
"This is an industry that has proven time and time again that it does not care for the welfare of these dogs," she said.
"They are a seen as a commodity and whether they monitor these pups from birth to death will be irrelevant."
She questioned what happened to other pups and whether they were monitored as well.
"Is the whole litter monitored, or are we only talking about the dogs that end up racing?" Ms Field said.
"How many of these pups are killed because they are discarded as a worthless commodity."
Ms Field said there were still record numbers of greyhound deaths being recorded on tracks across Australia.
"Tracks are deadly at the moment," she said.
"Dogs are racing at 80 kilometres an hour and colliding and that results in catastrophic injuries for these dogs."
