Last week, the Australian racing industry was turned upside-down when it was discovered that several greyhound trainers were engaging in live baiting. The NSW racing league has been withdrawn, while others have taken steps to prevent this animal cruelty from ever happening again. One group that is taking a proactive approach is the Canberra Greyhound Racing Club.
This week, the venue has announced that it plans to spend $30 000 on new security equipment in order to catch any potential crimes that take place. While live baiting has not taken place on this particular racing ground, the club wants to install the new cameras in order to ensure that it never does. "[Live baiting] has never happened here and if it ever does, those involved will never see the track again," says Ron Peck, Chairman of the club.
"We want to put cameras everywhere. We've already got good CCTV coverage, but if anyone comes in here to do anything illegal, they'll be caught. This is an upgrade of what is already in place”. The proposed upgrade will include all part of the clubs: both training tracks and racing tracks. This will ensure that trainers and spectators will engage in above board activity at all times.
"It's about transparency of what goes on here. We want better CCTV, so that it's basically infallible to do anything illegal. The RSPCA can come in and view it all,” says Gary Collier, a representative of the Greyhounds Australasia Board. It will be quite some time before the Australian racing market will be able to recover from this scandal – but the recent actions of clubs like Canberra will help to speed up the process.
It is important for greyhound racing clubs to work hard to prevent any further crimes from taking place, and we are pleased to see many industry professionals taking a proactive approach.
About the Author
