MEDIA RELEASE: Greens raise alarm over plans to transform Wyee greyhound adoption facility into greyhound export base

22 May 2024

Abigail Boyd, Greens NSW MP and spokesperson for animal welfare, has raised the alarm over Greyhound Racing NSW’s (GRNSW) announcement that a Wyee greyhound adoption facility will be abruptly shut down and transformed into a base for greyhounds set to be exported to the US.

GRNSW have announced the closure of Greyhounds As Pets (GAP)’s Wyee adoption facility, the land of which will be repurposed into a home base for GRNSW’s “Aussie Mates” program exporting greyhounds to the US.

According to GRNSW CEO Rob Macaulay, the approximately 50 greyhounds currently residing at Wyee will be transferred to the Londonderry GAP facility, which is already at capacity and a nearly 2 hour drive away.

Abigail Boyd, Greens NSW MP and spokesperson for animal welfare, said:

“We have long known the truth of the greyhound racing industry, that when there is money at stake animal welfare concerns go out the window. This shockingly abrupt closure of a rehoming facility is case in point - facing yet another financial deficit Greyhound Racing NSW have, with zero consultation or warning, evicted staff and greyhounds from the property.

“Staff are now facing unemployment and greyhounds are allegedly to be sent to another overflowing and cramped kennel facility, where they will likely face even worse welfare outcomes. And in its place, Greyhound Racing NSW are seeking to expand to industrial scale their cruel international greyhound export program.

“The greyhound racing industry has lost its social licence. It continues to churn out greyhounds at an alarming rate, rates at which they simply cannot hope to all be successfully rehomed. We urgently need breeding caps to prevent greyhounds being discarded, and ideally we should shut down this cruel industry that has proven time and time again that it cannot be reformed.

“Welfare advocates have raised serious concerns about the “Aussie Mates” program, which is marketed as a program to “rehome” retired racing greyhounds to the United States. In reality, we have no way of knowing the fate of these greyhounds once they are taken off the racing industry’s books and sent overseas.

"Up to 800 greyhounds have already been exported to the US under this program since its launch last year, with no confirmation of exactly where they have ended up, with whom, or indeed if they are still alive at all.”

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MEDIA RELEASE: Greens raise alarm over plans to transform Wyee greyhound adoption facility into greyhound export base

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