Retire your greyhounds appropriately

5 December 2023

The Queensland Racing Integrity Commission (QRIC) is calling on all greyhound trainers and owners to retire their greyhounds as pets appropriately.

The Commission has become aware that in contravention of GAR 24 owners and trainers are attempting to rehome greyhounds without desexing them first.

Under the national greyhound racing rules, introduced in May last year, a Queensland greyhound that is being retired as a pet must be desexed prior to leaving the care of its owner or responsible registered person – unless the greyhound is being accepted into an approved Greyhound Adoption Program, either GAP Queensland or Love a Greyhound in central Queensland.

QRIC Chief Greyhound steward Wade Hadley said it was the responsibility of greyhound owners and trainers to rehome their greyhounds appropriately and they must be desexed before they are rehomed.

“We are inquiring into several serious breaches of the rules,” he said. 

“This is a major issue, and to ensure the future sustainability of the greyhound racing industry, owners and trainers must understand that it is their responsibility to not only abide by the rules but to support the future of their industry.

“We have had incidents where owners and trainers have left greyhounds with veterinarians without a plan for their future and that is not appropriate,” Mr Hadley said.

“There is no excuse for breaching these rules as there is assistance available for racing participants to desex dogs after retirement through Racing Queensland’s Greyhound Retirement Readiness Scheme.”

The scheme provides a capped amount of reimbursement, up to $800 per greyhound, towards the cost of desexing, dental treatment, vaccination and pre-anaesthetic blood tests for greyhounds that have been retired as pets.

This supports participants to go above-and-beyond the requirements of the national rule by providing financial support to not only desex their greyhounds, but also to ensure retired greyhounds go into their new lives as pets with good dental health and up-to-date vaccinations.

Mr Hadley said the time had passed for participants who have not caught up with the rule changes.

“The rehoming rules have been in place for more than 18 months and we are clamping down on participants who think they can retire their dogs without desexing them.

“Our industry depends on everyone doing their best by following all the rules and rehoming is an animal welfare issue that is paramount to a sustainable industry into the future.”