Tasmanian personalities are lending their voices to the growing chorus calling for an end to the taxpayer funding of greyhound racing.
Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary Director Greg Irons and Hit100.9 Breakfast Host Christie Hayes have signed on as ambassadors for the movement, spreading the word ‘about the high rates of injury, death and suffering in the industry’.
The calls are backed by a statewide EMRS poll conducted in October 2023, showing 79% of Tasmanians support ending public funding for dog racing.
The pair say they are “stepping up as voices for the greyhounds and for ordinary Tasmanians who can see the rot and want it stopped”.
“We do not need to make animals run and place money on it for fun,” Irons said.
“We see horrific suffering every day at Bonorong due to wildlife accidentally being hurt and scream and yell for funding to support wildlife and carers.”
“Imagine the slap in the face it is to our sector to then see something so well documented as causing horrific cruelty ruining families through gambling, then funded by our pocket as taxpayers.”
Former Home and Away star Christie Hays says she is “upset” at the way greyhounds are singled out for “so much unnecessary pain and suffering”.
“A dog is a man’s best friend. That’s what dogs are supposed to be to us,” she said.
A petition is support of stripping the industry of public funding was recently presented to state parliament, with organisers claiming there is strong community opposition to the industry.
The Tasmanian Government currently provides around $30 million annually to the racing industry.
“Our taxpayers’ dollars, our hard-earned money, are actually funding this cruelty,” Irons said.
“They’re not directing the government to stop using someone else’s money. They’re asking the government to stop using their money.”
The Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds alleges that six greyhounds have been killed on Tasmanian tracks in the last two years and hundreds more have been seriously injured.
TasRacing maintains its commitment to ‘improving greyhound welfare’, saying it is investing more and more in adoption programs and medical expense subsidies for dogs post-racing.
