On 23 May 2023, MP Kieran McAnulty released a Report about greyhound racing that was dated December 2022. Authored by the Racing Integrity Board (RIB), this report is 175 pages long.

There have already been three (3) reports, all reviews, of the NZ greyhound racing industry, in 2013, 2017 and 2021. All have included substantive lists of shortcomings in the industry with issues for improving the welfare of greyhounds. This latest report was to have been the final report – the industry was ‘put on notice’ that it should improve and given one year – until the end of 2022 – to do so.

Since I’m writing this blog in June 2023, I figure you can guess that government has failed to act on its promise; even the delay of five months in releasing the report is suspect in terms of who is committed to animal welfare.

I used to work for local and central government agencies in my earlier working life. Whenever a report is long, it is usually because the writers do not want to be the bearers of bad news and so wade through every possible detail to hide the glaringly obvious. Such is the case with this report.

Please bear in mind that the Racing Integrity Board’s purpose is: Promote and ensure the racing industry complies with high standards of animal welfare, integrity and professionalism for the benefit of the public, participants and racing industry

Let me repeat that – high standards, integrity and professionalism…

Key points (direct quotes from the report):

• There remains much to do
• The industry has a way to go to convince stakeholders that animal welfare is the overriding imperative
• Race day injuries have been a long-standing concern. The injury reduction strategy has not yet delivered improved outcomes.
• Progress on track standards has been slow. Track assessments were completed but did not always result in timely remediation. This leads to the inevitable conclusion that greyhounds could have been injured unnecessarily.
• Adoption of the Greyhound Australasia rules was a significant undertaking, underestimated by GRNZ (Greyhound Racing NZ).
• The RIB is confident progress would not have been achieved to the extent it has without the work programme in combination with close monitoring.
• A broader range of greyhound registration process issues remain unresolved and are affecting traceability.
• Implement education programmes that ensure all licensed persons understand their obligations under the standards, rules and policies. This is a long-standing issue, for which progress remains slow.
• Should the industry continue, a high degree of monitoring will be essential.
• If the RIB is asked to continue its role in the implementation and monitoring of a future work programme, there will be cost implications not currently budgeted
• Inevitably there will be cost implications for the industry if greyhound racing is to continue based on a revised work programme.

If you’re reading this and wonder what’s next for NZ’s greyhounds, please ensure you focus on the last few bullet points above. If racing is allowed to continue, progress is unlikely to be achieved without close monitoring for which the RIB does not have the budget and resources to undertake. No one else in NZ is resourced to do this either, and the industry itself will face costs to improve.

What’s the odds of these things happening given NZ’s current economic situation and with the lack of leadership?

But wait, there’s more! The RIB has issued a supplementary report, another 31 pages, this time dated March 2022. I’ll cover that report in a future blog.

Kathleen Crisley, Fear-Free certified professional and specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and nutrition/food therapy, The Balanced Dog, Christchurch, New Zealand