On Tuesday, following a race at Addington Raceway, greyhound ‘Epic Addi’ was found to have a displaced compound fracture
of the right fore ulna and radius, with soft tissue damage up to the elbow joint. Eight greyhounds have died on
racetracks to date this season, with five of the eight deaths occurring at Addington Raceway.
Greyhound Racing New Zealand edited the fall from the race video, which resulted in the euthanasia. GRNZ recently edited
another race video for a similar injury that occurred at Manawatu Raceway in March this year.
SAFE spokesperson Will Appelbe said the industry still has a transparency problem.
"There are some skeletons in the industry’s closet that GRNZ is doing its best to hide," said Appelbe.
"The industry is under mounting pressure, but instead of acknowledging and addressing its problems, GRNZ continues to
operate with a lack of transparency over the harm and pain it's inflicting on dogs."
Last week Newshub revealed that the Racing Integrity Board (RIB) is making inquiries into prolific greyhound trainer John McInerney.
Photos and medical notes linked to McInerney showed eight of his dogs in poor condition, with some suffering from
blindness, open wounds, bite marks from other dogs, injuries that were old and left untreated, lacerations, and severe
worms.
Newshub also revealed the RIB had issued up to 300 warnings and improvement notices to kennels, and almost all kennels visited by the RIB had
issues.
"Animal welfare issues have been on the radar for the greyhound racing industry for close to a decade, and yet we still
see dogs placed in harm’s way, either on the track or in the kennels."
"Racing Minister Grant Robertson has placed the industry formally on notice. We think the evidence speaks for itself. He
needs to make the call and ban greyhound racing.