20 July, 2016 14:45
CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
A retired chardonnay socialist from Sydney’s lower North Shore has just come to terms with the fact that greyhounds aren’t as adorable as she was led to believe by ABC Four Corners and the 120 different online petitions she has signed over the last 18 months.
Wendy Peiterson (68) was one of hundred that made the trip to Sydney’s Wentworth Park on Saturday to meet and greet the recently retired racing dogs, as tensions continue to simmer over a landmark decision to outlaw greyhound racing in NSW.
Throughout the day, a record number of ex-racing dogs were re-homed to be people. Of the 40 greyhounds up for grabs, 39 were adopted and one fostered out, with another 100-odd people registering interest for the remaining 40,000 registered NSW-based racing dogs further down the track.
Mrs Peiterson says that the recent addition to her household, a 3-year-old Greyhound named “Bundy Sundee” – has been having a lot of trouble settling in to his new life in the smoke-free suburb of Mosman.
“I didn’t adopt him because I wanted a dog, I adopted him because of the romantic notion of saving a tortured animal,”
“I wanted to feel like I was helping towards banning Greyhound Racing, not just Mikey [Premier Mike Baird]
“But every time he’s sees a possum or cat he takes a bite out of them,”
“I had the girls over from bridge the other day and he was very restless. He ended up tearing out Brigid’s catheter and bolting down the street with it.
“The manager of the bathhouse found him down at balmoral beach burying it in the sand”
“These animals are… animals,”
The adoption day came after the NSW government this week refused to back down on its decision to ban greyhound racing after meeting industry leaders and foreign property developers.
Premier Mike Baird and his deputy Troy Grant have said they will make ‘some sort of effort’ towards helping the industry through the ban after meeting with owners and breeders.
Mr Baird said he had no choice but to scrap the sport after an inquiry found up to 68,000 ‘uncompetitive’ greyhounds had been slaughtered in the past 12 years and nearly one-in-five trainers used live animal baits.
“The only people that really care about this industry are the punters” said Baird.
“…and it’s not like we are banning gambling – we just want to wash our hands of the dirt. We are banning live-baiting, not live-betting [laughter].
“The gamblers will still be able to watch greyhound racing at any Sydney TAB – the races will just have to be streamed from out of state”
However, with only 40 retired dogs being adopted last weekend and a further 39,960 to go, Baird says it looks like his Government are going to have to eventually leave the re-homing in the hands of the people who’ve dedicated their lives to breeding and racing the animals.
“Eventually it is going to be their responsibility to get rid of them. We won’t be able to find homes for them all”
“We’ve told them they can borrow any excavators they need. There’s talk of building a mass grave up around Tamworth and piling them in on top of eachother”
“Not really my problem anymore, hey”
Wendy’s story about the rescue greyhound is the biggest crock of s*** I’ve ever heard a absolute made up story to make greyhounds Industry again look bad
Man slaughter not only dogs, what about pigs, cows, chicken, fish…
This mossman, latte sipping mother sounds like a plant from the greens to bolster their flagging campaign. What a piece of work! Another pathetic attempt to justify the murder of thousands of nsw greyhounds, that will be rendered excess to requirements and/or excess to any realistic chance of rehoming once racing ceases in nsw. Hang your heads in shame you animal activists, the deaths of these animals will be your fault.
For christ sake, its a dog , dogs chase cats. My dachsund chases birds as well. Wake up to yourself and get a goldfish!