Volunteer groups claim greyhound industry lying about dog adoption figures
GREYHOUND rescue groups have accused the greyhound racing industry of fudging the number of ex-race dogs it has saved.
South East
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GREYHOUND rescue groups have accused the greyhound racing industry’s adoption program of fudging the number of greyhounds it rehomes by claiming other rescue organisations’ work as its own.
Veronica Lim from the Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds said even though the Greyhound Racing Victoria-run Greyhound Adoption Program (GAP) had rehomed the 6100 dogs in 20 years it claimed, the figure was tiny compared with the number of dogs bred for racing and the number of euthanised dogs would far eclipse the number adopted.
“Victoria produced an average of 1098 litters every year between 2003 — 2015 and the average greyhound litter size is six puppies per litter ... that means Victoria’s greyhound racing industry has been producing roughly 6588 puppies every year for the last 13 years,” she said.
Cranbourne based Greyhound Rescue Victoria adopts out between 10 and 15 greyhounds every month, taking 80 per cent of them from trainers and the rest from other sources such as Gumtree.
Founder Sherree Owen said in order for a dog to go in public unmuzzled it needed to pass the GAP ‘green collar’ test. She said people who adopted greyhounds from her were made to sign a second adoption form from GAP after their dogs were tested, which made it appear that they had adopted the dog from GAP.
She said everyone who adopted a dog from her wanted to take it outside without a muzzle.
“When we adopt a greyhound we cannot adopt with a green collar because GAP has the green collar monopoly,” she said.
“Ninety per cent of our dogs come from trainers and I would say 80 per cent of them are GAP rejects.
“The adopter pays our adoption fee and then they have to go to GAP and ... when they pick up the dog they make them sign an adoption contract for them.
“I am not out for recognition but don’t fudge the figures ... when they take statistics from our volunteers it ruffles my feathers.”
Ms Owen said trainers who took their dogs to the GAP program had reported dogs failing the green collar test for reasons such as missing toes and limps caused by racing injuries. She said trainers had to tell GAP if they wanted the dog back if it failed the green collar test. If they did, they often took the dog to other rescue groups for re-adoption. If they didn’t, the dog was euthanised.
Simone Oliver, who adopted her greyhound Gertie from Doveton-based non-profit group Greyhound Safety Net in 2013, said she took the dog to get green collared because it was distressed wearing a muzzle.
“It was a legal requirement; she had only done six races and she hated (the muzzle) so I thought I would do the right thing and sign her up for the green collar assessment,” she said.
“I had to surrender her to them and then re-adopt her from them; the figures they are claiming I don’t believe they are legitimate.”
Greyhound Racing Victoria spokesman Renn Barker said GRV did include other agencies’ dogs in its figures but they comprised a small amount of the total number of dogs adopted through GAP.
“In 2014-15, GAP conducted 32 collar assessments for Greyhound Safety Net prior to them adopting out their dogs accounting for fewer than 4 per cent of all dogs rehomed through GAP that year,” he said.
“The percentage for previous years is very similar.
“Excluding the GSN dogs would still produce a figure of around 6100 dogs over 20 years.
“No dogs up for private collar assessments are ‘surrendered’ to GAP.
“All private collar assessments ... require the owner to sign a green collar assessment contract, which is a statutory requirement under the Domestic Animals Act.”