NZ: Greyhound racing deaths being 'covered up'

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From www.stuff.co.nz

Greyhound racing deaths being 'covered up'

NEIL REID

Last updated 05:00 10/02/2013

Greyhound racing officials are accused of hiding the true extent of dog
deaths as they go about their "sham" investigation of the industry.

As a review gets under way into the industry - including welfare of the
super-quick, but physically vulnerable canines - officials from Greyhound
Racing New Zealand have stopped publicly releasing the numbers of dogs that
die after racing incidents.

Greyhound Protection League spokesman Aaron Cross told the Sunday Star-Times
that instead of reporting the number of dogs that break legs or are put
down, "we now have a new generic description 'referred to vet for
assessment' of which there were 22 instances for the month of January. We
know there have been fatalities during this period. And we're concerned that
this manner of cover-up compromises the integrity of raceday vets, an issue
we're discussing with the New Zealand Vet Council".

The GRNZ-commissioned review into dog welfare got under way last month with
the first meeting of a panel that the racing body says is 100 per cent
independent. The review is being carried out by accountancy firm WHK and is
chaired by Bill Colgan, a former interim chief executive of the New Zealand
Racing Board.

GRNZ initiated the review following public pressure after an August 2012
Sunday Star-Times investigation, which highlighted numerous trackside deaths
and claims from the Greyhound Protection League that up to 10,000 former
racers were deemed "missing". At the time, GRNZ general manager Jim Leach
contended that injuries to racing dogs were "part of a fact of life", but
stressed the industry went to "an extreme amount of trouble" to ensure the
welfare of dogs.

Cross last week labelled the investigation a "sham". He said it could not be
labelled independent as the panel featured people with close links to the
gambling industry. "We believe if the racing industry has nothing to hide
they should co-operate with the demand for a truly independent inquiry into
the extent of injuries and the outcomes for racing greyhounds," Cross said.

Leach did not respond to a request for comment. He said earlier that the
review would take about six months to complete.