Why banning greyhound racing hurts us all

The kneejerk decision to end greyhound racing is a kick in the teeth for working class Australia, writes Miranda Devine. But ultimately, all of us lose out.

The NSW government’s decision to ban the doggies strikes at the very heart of the average, working Australian man. (Pic: Jay Town)

Here we go. Yet another kneejerk “compassionate” response to a campaign by animal activists, as prosecuted by the ABC.

This time it’s the greyhound industry in NSW for the chopping block. With the authoritarian elitism that the modern Liberal party is making its hallmark, Premier Mike Baird has written off the livelihood and lifestyle of thousands of greyhound trainers, owners and breeders who love their dogs and take good care of them, not to mention the people who work at race tracks and pubs and dog food suppliers; and all the greyhound aficionados who go to watch the doggies and bet over $1billion every year.”

It’s hard to fathom the arrogance of squeamish city dwellers killing off a quintessentially Australian pastime they don’t understand.

The decision is driven by the sensibilities of vegan GetUp! activists, with nose piercings and psychological hangups, who loathe the culture that greyhounds represent – of male battlers in regional Australia hanging onto their dignity, whose main social interaction is a night at the doggies.

These men have been kicked in the teeth and marginalised by societal changes and “innovation”, which means job losses where they come from. They don’t have the choice in leisure pursuits available to the harbourside mansions set.

Baird and his cabinet signed the industry’s death warrant to signal their virtue. They thought they could get away with it because greyhound people are poor and powerless.

With his decision to ban greyhound racing, the NSW Premier Mike Baird has trashed the livelihoods of many. (Pic: Peter Lorimer)

‘This strikes at the very heart of the working man,” says Katrina Hodgkinson, from Cootamundra, one of four Nationals MP opposing their government’s shock decision.

“You can be as poor as a church mouse - and most country guys are – and you can still afford your own dog or become a partner in a syndicate.

“It’s a social network, the one activity to go to the local track on race night and catch up with people. It’s such a harmless activity but so important for a lot of guys who wouldn’t otherwise get a lot of socialising done. It keeps them sane.”

At the track they are somebody, like greyhound breeder Rob Ingram, owner of Sheara’s Mate, a giveaway dog who won 14 races at Wentworth Park and got him a write-up in the local paper.

“My dogs are my life,” says Ingram, who has fifty dogs on 100 acres at Tomingley, a tiny town of 330 people between Parkes and Dubbo.

He talks about his dogs like children. Old Mate Archie won $50,000 in prize money this year and kept his Windy Rest kennels afloat. Scooter, who wasn’t interested in racing, now has a “life on the lounge” with a woman called Natalie who adopted him through the Greyhounds as Pets organisation.

The flow on effects of the upcoming ban are a cause of great concern — particularly for the future of the thousands of dogs in the racing industry. (Pic: Vince Caligiuri/Getty)

For men like Ingram, greyhounds provide a place in a community with a purpose, where they feel valued.

And all of it has been casually trashed by the Premier.

Whether or not you’ve ever laid eyes on a greyhound, such interventionist government by Facebook fiat concerns us all.

It is a direct intrusion into the private sphere of human flourishing, as described by philosophers from Burke to Kirk. It’s not just the arbitrary eradication of an industry, but the destruction of a human community of friendships and community groups, social interactions passed down through generations, which can’t be replaced by compensation or “industry assistance”.

These are the pre-political institutions meant to be outside of government control, which are the glue that keeps society together. They are the local “little platoons” which make up a healthy society, and give people social identities which build together into a cohesive nation.

The government cites vaguely sourced statistics about dog “wastage” from a 13-month commission of inquiry that was dominated by the well-organised voice of animal activists but which rebuffed input from greyhound experts such as this newspaper’s own esteemed former greyhound writer Jeff Collison.

“I did not hear of anyone appearing at the judicial inquiry who had anything positive to say about the sport,” he says. “It seems the inquiry only heard from animal rights activists and their ilk.”

NSW Premier Mike Baird thought he could get away with the ban because greyhound people are poor and powerless. (Pic: AAP Image/Andi Yu)

The commission found the practice of “live-baiting” – training dogs to chase live rabbits or possums – was used by 20 per cent of trainers.

But why should the law-abiding 80 per cent be punished, asks Tony Glackin, President of the Dapto Greyhound Club, where Thursday night race meetings have been the heart and soul of the town for 80 years.

He accepts there are bad apples, as in any sport. “[Baird] said we can’t be reformed but we have to give it a try. We’ve already made massive strides.”

In the name of compassion the Premier has signed the death warrant of at least 10,000 dogs.

Retired dogs re-housed by the industry through Greyhounds as Pets can’t find enough homes as it is.

We’ll have a repeat of the slaughter in London when dog carting was abolished in the 1840s. In the first year the bloated bodies of 150,000 dogs choked the Thames River.

NSW is only the beginning. The greyhound industry is under threat in every state and Animals Australia, the RSPCA and the ABC will keep hammering away until they destroy it.

The upshot will be a sea of dead dogs, and devastated humans.

And then the empowered animal activists will move on to their next targets – horse racing, then farm animals, then who knows what. They will not stop until we’re all vegan ciphers.