Victorian government continues to throw taxpayer money at dog killers

If the greyhound abuse industry in NSW is a particularly sordid mess presided over by the gambling-addicted NSW Labor Party, things are even grubbier in Victoria.

Greyhound Racing Victoria’s annual report emerged at the end of October and the outlook is bleak for citizens in Australia’s highest-taxed state. Despite the Victorian government handing $40 million a year to the industry, Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV) still managed to slump to a $22.7 million loss, three times its 2023 loss, off a welcome $12 million slump in betting revenue and broadcast fees as people turned their backs on an industry that is now a byword for animal abuse.

To help out, the Victorian Labor government gave GRV a $3 million interest-free loan “to meet short-term expenditure commitments” — even though GRV has cut back spending in areas like swabbing dogs for illegal substances — and cut spending on what passes for the industry integrity body, the Victorian Racing Tribunal, by 40%. Not bad for a body run by someone on $480,000.

Meanwhile, Victoria is a charnel house for dogs: the number of greyhounds euthanised this year rose by 26 to 415, including 220 dogs killed because they were injured racing and another 143 due to illness. Beyond that 415, another 200 dogs were listed as having died. It’s now also clear that industry figures are having healthy dogs euthanised, with an unknown number of dogs suffering this fate. The overall injury rate in races increased, as did the number of racing fatalities, to 43. Victoria remains the deadliest place for greyhounds in the country, with nearly twice as many dogs dying in the state this calendar year compared to any other state.

This number significantly understates the actual number of dogs euthanised due to racing injuries as it only applies to dogs killed or euthanised at the track and not in the days afterwards as owners assess their injuries and decide to kill them. According to data compiled by the Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds, nationally, in October alone, 15 greyhounds were killed while racing, but it’s understood at least another 19 have died off-track after suffering leg injuries in their races. In Victoria, five dogs died while racing but another seven died or were killed off-track just in October.

The report also shows that rehomings for ex-racing dogs continue to be far lower than the number of dogs whelped by the industry (the rehoming figures also includes “private” rehomings by owners, who keep racing dogs as pets — including owners who hand off unwanted dogs to third parties to be killed). Rehomings by the industry’s rehoming program, the Greyhound Adoption Program, fell substantially in 2023-24.

All in an industry that would collapse if the Victorian government stopped handing it millions to keep the torture going.

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