[Greens-Media] "I have nightmares": students, vets and nurses bear burden of greyhound regulation failure

[John Kaye]

"I have nightmares": students, vets and nurses bear burden of greyhound
regulation failure

Media release: 2 February 2014

In public submissions to the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into greyhound
racing, vets, their nurses and students have revealed their distress at
dealing with the massive number of racing dogs that are discarded for
euthanasia  because they cannot run fast enough, according to Greens NSW MP
John Kaye.

('Destruction of greyhounds distresses vet students', Sun Herald 2
February, page 17, http://j.mp/sh140202)

Vets, students and nurses have raised concerns that the overwhelming number
of dog cadavers in university teaching laboratories are greyhounds and
healthy dogs that are being surrendered for euthanasia.

(A summary of the key submissions from vets, nurses and students is
available at http://johnkaye.org.au/gh140202/. All public submissions are
at http://j.mp/greysubs).

The Inquiry will be hearing public evidence again on Wednesday 5 February
in Wallsend and Thursday 6 February in Sydney.

Dr Kaye said: "These greyhounds at least have owners who care enough to
take them to the vet or the a university to be killed professionally.

"Thousands of others disappear without trace, many presumably facing a
death marked by pain and fear.

"Vets and their nurses are faced with a no-win choice. Either they violate
their professional instincts by putting down a healthy dog or they confine
the unwanted greyhounds to an uncertain and potentially terrifying fate.

"It's not just the greyhounds who are the victims of an industry that is
poorly regulated.  Vets and their nurses are left with the discarded
greyhounds, with little choice but to put down many healthy animals.

"Vet students are thrown into trauma as they confront the overwhelming
number of bodies of discarded greyhounds in anatomy labs. They are
front-line witnesses to the animal welfare consequences of an industry that
has failed to reduce the number of dogs that are thrown away.

"Young people who choose a profession because they care deeply about
animals are being exposed to the harsh reality of an industry that produces
far more dogs than it can use.

"Responsible vets and universities that ensure that greyhounds receive a
humane death are not to blame for the number of dogs being killed.

"Industry regulator Greyhound Racing NSW has tolerated an appalling number
of unwanted dogs remain by refusing to act against over-breeding," Dr Kaye
said.

For more information: John Kaye 0407 195 455

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John Kaye
Greens NSW MP
phone: 0407 195 455
web: www.john.nsw.greens.org.au
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