The NSW greyhound industry has taken steps to ensure its recent rehoming success will continue, with a two-day summit in Bathurst looking at a range of new initiatives. It was a joint initiative of Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) and the Greyhound Welfare & Integrity Commission (GWIC). Attendees focused on rehoming and looking at a strategy to eradicate the incidence of prohibited substances in the sport.
Among the new rehoming initiatives were a 'pension plan' to provide care across the lifetime of a greyhound and specific campaigns to target potential adopters across demographics. The focus on rehoming was another indicator the industry will not rest on its continued success with rehoming its greyhounds following their racing careers.
GRNSW recently announced a new record of 2202 greyhounds had been rehomed in FY 2022-23. That figure not only surpassed the year's target set by the industry at 2100, but continued the surge in rehoming over the past five years. Since FY18-19, rehoming numbers have grown by 202 per cent, climbing from 729 in FY18-19 to 2202 in FY22-23, as the industry continues to put its full focus on transitioning greyhounds into home life as a pet after racing.
GRNSW chief executive officer Mr Rob Macaulay declared the summit had provided a vital source of new information and ideas to continue looking at all pathways for rehoming and that a multi-stakeholder taskforce will be formed to look further into proposed initiatives.
This article was produced as part of an ACM partnership with Greyhound Racing NSW.
