Michael Mora

In some cases, the injury is so bad that dog will need to be put down.

And there have been other concerns raised over the years, allegations of live baiting of animals.

This is when animals such as chickens or possums are strung up on a bullring and the dogs chase those down.

Yeah, there's just been this ongoing pressure, I guess, and ongoing reports that have highlighted these issues in terms of welfare.

Well, no.

I mean, look, there's a lot of parallels.

And in fact, that's one of Greyhound Racing New Zealand's arguments that, you know, even in horse racing, there's injuries.

I don't think that the rate of injuries you get in harness racing is comparable to what we see in Greyhound Racing, however.

And...

That becomes an issue, and I think there has also been real concerns around the traceability of dogs, so knowing precisely how many dogs are engaged in the industry or racing at any one time, and then five years on, where is that dog that was racing two years ago and what's happened to it?

So...

Greyhound Racing New Zealand has done a lot to improve its transparency and traceability about where dogs go.

But unfortunately, the injuries especially that have been ongoing make a lot of people pretty uncomfortable with this as a sport.

Greyhound Racing as a sport has lost its social licence.

I was tipped off from a source about a plan to organise a charter plane to take some dogs out of the country and to Queensland, Australia, just soon after the ban comes into place here.

And essentially there was a private Facebook message which was sent out by Greyhound Racing New Zealand

and this went to trainers and owners, and it was an advisory telling them that a charter plane had been secured, that there was space for up to 70 dogs, and that Greyhound Racing New Zealand itself would pay for that charter flight and any MPI vet checks for those dogs.

So GRNZ was encouraging trainers and participants in the industry to register their interests in taking part in this flight, and they...

suggested that trainers might want to put breeding bitches or stud dogs on this plane so they can, quote, continue their breeding and realise their potential in a jurisdiction where it'll obviously be legal.

So this obviously is a bit of a last-ditch attempt to...