Greyhound ‘live baiting’: Zeki Kadir found guilty of animal cruelty
A former greyhound trainer used to allow greyhounds to viciously chase and attack live rabbits as part of their training on his property in Sydney’s northwest.
Penrith
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A former greyhound trainer at the centre of a “live-baiting” scandal has been found guilty by a jury of purposefully harming rabbits in the training of greyhounds.
Zeki Ray Kadir faced trial on an animal cruelty charge at Penrith District court last week more than five years after the allegations first came to light.
The practice of live baiting was exposed during an episode of ABC program Four Corners which investigated the greyhound industry.
The fallout from the program led to the greyhound racing industry being banned in 2016, however the ban was overturned before it was due to come into effect in July, 2017.
According to court documents, Kadir was the owner of Wilshire Park in Londonderry in late 2014 when Sarah Lynch was engaged by Animals Australia to assist in gathering evidence of potential “live-baiting” at the site.
Documents show Lynch entered Wilshire Park in the early hours of the morning between December 5, 2014, and January 13, 2015, typically by jumping over the fence.
Although her actions were illegal, the NSW Attorney-General gave her indemnity, and she hasn’t been prosecuted for any crimes relating to Wilshire Park.
During her time inside Wilshire Park, Lynch recorded videos of greyhounds attacking live rabbits that were ruled as inadmissable in the trial.
Lynch also secretly recorded an audio file of Kadir admitting to the practice.
Prior to the trial, Kadir’s legal team took a fight to have all recordings ruled inadmissable all the way to the High Court, but were only successful in having the video recordings scratched as evidence.