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Greyhound Lovers Hit Sydney To Back Dog Racing Ban

Animal rights supporters want greyhound racing to be scrapped.
People who want greyhound racing outlawed in NSW have rallied in Sydney.
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People who want greyhound racing outlawed in NSW have rallied in Sydney.

Opponents of the Baird Government backflipping on its greyhound racing ban have taken to Sydney's CBD, with over a thousand protesters urging the Premier to push ahead with the controversial industry shutdown.

More than 1,500 protesters on Sunday called on the NSW Government to keep the ban on greyhound racing alive in the face of coalition plans to reverse it.

"Premier Baird may have backed down on the ban but the people of NSW have no intention of doing so," said NSW Greens MP Mehreen Faruqi, who attended the rally.

"The community will not tolerate animal cruelty and it will not tolerate the political cowardice of both the Labor and Liberal parties that allows it to happen."

She said there was "no way the greyhound racing industry can continue to exist without the death of so many dogs".

"We will continue to fight for nothing less than a ban. No dog should have to die for the sake of a bet," Faruqi added.

A spokesman at the rally, flanked by protesters holding animal rights placards, said it was clear that the industry couldn't clean up its act.

"No government can save this industry from itself," he told Network Seven at Sydney's Martin Place.

"It is no just a matter of a few bad apples, the cart is full of bad apples. This industry cannot exist ... there is systemic abuse and egregious brutal cruelty."

Earlier this month, Premier Mike Baird backtracked on his decision to close down greyhound racing saying he got his initial decision wrong. The backflip came after internal party pressure from a number of National MPs and concern about the impact of the plan to scrap dog racing at the upcoming Orange by-election.

The initial ban was triggered by an ABC television report highlighting live-baiting in the sport, and an official report that found up to 68,500 greyhounds had died over 12 years.

The planned shutdown was vigorously opposed by trainers, breeders and owners of greyhounds involved in the sport that has been conducted in Australia since the 1860s.

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