THE death of a greyhound at Bathurst's racing track last month was the third at the track in 2020, making it one of the most dangerous in NSW, says an organisation that wants to see greyhound racing banned.
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Three-year-old Isabella Icefish collided with another dog at the home straight in Race 3 on December 21, suffering catastrophic injuries. She was was put down as a result.
Her death took the number of greyhounds killed on NSW tracks to 45.
Dennis Anderson, national president of the Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds (CPG), which is calling for a ban on the sport, said 181 greyhounds have been injured while racing at Bathurst in 2020, including 32 with major injuries.
He said the greyhound racing industry "was in need of urgent reform".
"The death of Isabella Icefish highlights some of the key problems with greyhound racing: curved tracks, races with too many dogs, and greyhounds with broken legs being euthanised at the track," Mr Anderson said.
"The racing industry's own research shows that straight tracks and six-dog races reduce injuries and deaths. But gambling profits have priority over animal welfare, and dogs keep dying," he said.
He said 80 per cent of racing deaths occur at track turns, where the dogs bunch together and collide at high speed, often falling.
"Eighty-five percent of fatalities involve seven or eight-dog races. Isabella Icefish was in an eight-dog race.
"The only way to end greyhound suffering is to ban greyhound racing. But until that happens, the industry must reduce on-track deaths and injuries by implementing safer tracks with an emphasis on straight tracks and six-dog races," Mr Anderson said.
A spokesperson from the Greyhound Welfare & Integrity Commission confirmed that Isabella Icefish sustained a catastrophic injury at the Bathurst track on Monday, December 21.
"The greyhound suffered a compound fracture to her foreleg after a fall in race three. Unfortunately, the severity of the greyhound's injuries was such that she was humanely euthanased by GWIC's on-track veterinarians on welfare grounds," the spokesperson said, adding the incident had been referred to GWIC's Race Injury Review Panel.
The spokesperson said the panel is a first of its kind in the sport and analyses the contributing factors for all serious and catastrophic injuries, making recommendations that focus on improving the safety and welfare of racing greyhounds.
A report of the panel's findings is published to the Commission's website every six months.
The spokesperson said in 2019/20 the industry recorded the lowest ever rate of catastrophic injuries, which equated to 0.7 per 1000 starts, with the last two quarters having the lowest Catastrophic injury rate ever recorded at 0.5 per 1000 starts.
"Though this downward trend is encouraging GWIC would like to see this number continue to decline as the industry works to improve the safety of racing greyhounds," the spokesperson said.
"The safety of racing greyhounds is paramount to GWIC whose job is to ensure that racing is as safe as it can be for canine athletes. GWIC does this by supporting evidence-based initiatives aimed at improving safety and welfare."
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