Greyhound adopter says compensation shouldn't matter for greyhound lovers

“If you love the animals, $1500 isn’t going to make any difference,” Cargo’s Leanne Pearce said.

“You can’t put a monetary value on my dogs.”

The NSW government is considering a $30 million compensation package following the ban on greyhound racing in June 2017. 

Her comments follow reports of a potential mutiny among members of The Nationals on the issue.

Mrs Pearce works with the Greyhound Adoption Program, has adopted three greyhounds in the past and said they were more “cat than dog”.

Mrs Pearce said if she was offered $1500 to keep her dogs, she would be insulted and questioned the motive behind offering the money to owners.

“I’ve got three dogs and every four weeks it’s $120 in premium dog food, multiply that by 12 (months) and it’s more than $1500, plus vet bills and everything else,” she said.

She said an end to greyhound racing would be an end to cruelty to greyhounds which was a positive, but she had concerns about it how it was done.

“They do everything people ask them, but they can get the rough end of the stick,” Mrs Pearce said.

“I’m worried the demand for greyhounds as pets is not going to be enough and there’s thousands of other dogs in shelters already. It’s the actions of a few who have upset an entire industry.”

Mrs Pearce said she didn’t want to see hundreds of dogs being euthanised following the end of greyhound racing.

“Plus you can sometimes run the risk of people adopting dogs because they feel sorry for them,” she said.

“It should not have gotten to this point, where people are out of a job, losing their hobbies and there’s an uncertain future for the animals.”