Dr Arnja Dale: Greyhound racing ban "amazing" news

Animal rights advocates say the government's announcement on greyhound racing is "the best christmas present ever." 

Racing Minister Winston Peters announced the ban, with the legislation passed under urgency yesterday. 

The racing dogs will not be allowed to be euthanised and will have to be rehomed. 

The SPCA's Chief Scientific Officer welcomed the move.

"We're absolutely thrilled that [Winston Peters] made this very challenging but right decision".

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Racing. Minister Winston Peter's announced a ban on greyhound racing yesterday.
With the legislation passed under urgency. The racing dogs will
not be allowed to be euthanized, they will have to
be rehomed. Were joined now by Anya Dale, who's from
the SBCA, the Chief Scientific Officer.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hello, Anya, Hello, good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
You're big chuffed.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
We're absolutely delighted that Minister Peter's announced yesterday that the
racing industry will be banned in New Zealand by the
first of August twenty twenty six.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
It's amazing the racing industry said they were blindsided. But
have you been advocating for this for a while.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yes, ESPCIO has been advocating this for decades because the
sport is inherently dangerous and the injury and death rates
in greyhound racing just make it unsustainable. Just to give
you an example, in the last financial year alone on
track there were nine hundred injuries and thirteen deaths. So
it is just the levels are just too high to

(00:57):
make it acceptable and greyhound racing has lost its license
all right?

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Was it surprising coming from mister racing himself, Winston Peters, Well, no.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
We've been working with Minister Peters and the Department of
Internal Affairs on this for quite some time, and we
know that Minister Peters is very concerned about the welfare
of greyhounds, so we are absolutely thrilled that he made
this very challenging but right decision.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Will you now be moving on to saving the horses.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Well, now we're going to work with the continue to
work with our Greyhound rehome and coalition partners and the
Minister and the DIA in terms of working to rehome
all of the three thousand odd greyhounds in the industry,
because it's really important that all of these wonderful greyhounds

(01:50):
get put into loving family homes, which is exactly what
they deserve.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Indeed, are you avoided the question? But I don't mind.
Let's talk about that rehoming because the dogs are not
allowed to be euthanized, so we have to find places.
Do you think there's going to be a struggle?

Speaker 2 (02:04):
What is done?

Speaker 1 (02:06):
I think it's three thousand dogs, three.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
Thousand approximately, that's correct, And what has been done is
it's great that they now no longer be able to
be killed. It's set by a veterinarian and on legitimate
health and welfare reasons. So that is fantastic. And we
have reformed a rehoming coalition over two years ago and

(02:29):
have a strategy and an operational plan and the costings
right down to the individual dog, and a very multi
pronged approach in terms of how we're going to rehome
all of these dogs. So we are absolutely certain that
after learning from all our counterparts and other countries where
greyhound racing has also been shut down, we've learned all

(02:51):
of the good things to do, not to do, and
how to actually achieve this outcome. So we are sure
that we can work with the industry to achieve this outcome.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Thank you for your time today and I wish you
are the best of black and rehousing those dogs. I
know a dog. I know a greyhounds. My brother had one.
Will God rest soul. Funny little dog, big dog, actually
very tall dog, a little bit edgy. It's fair to say.
There's a quote in the paper today from Dawn Glover,
who owns rescue greyhounds. She says the dog's are fifty

(03:20):
percent elegant, fifty percent weird, and one hundred percent lazy,
and she likened them to the supermodels and the cats
of the dog world. Sounds like if you want one,
you can get one. For more from Early Edition with
Ryan Bridge, Listen live to news Talks it Be from
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