CALLS for greater safety at the region's greyhound racing meetings have grown louder, after a dog was euthanised during a Tamworth race meeting on Saturday.
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Typhoon Connie was put down at the completion of the third race after suffering multiple leg fractures.
The death is the second at the track in as many meetings and comes after the death of Guardiola, who died at the August 22 meeting.
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The incidents come after an upgrade of Tamworth's track was completed last year to help improve the safety of competing dogs.
Tamworth Greyhound Racing Club president Robert Munn declined to comment on Saturday's incident, but the death has sparked calls for action from the Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds (CPG).
CPG national president Dennis Anderson said the incident "shows how cruel this industry can be".
"The Tamworth racing club dismissed the previous death as 'one of those things', [but] two greyhounds have now died since the upgrade of the Tamworth track," Mr Anderson said.
"Rather than helping the dogs, the upgrade seems to be taking their lives."
The Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission (GWIC) stewards report states that Typhoon Connie failed to finish the race after "Kelly Maree (4) galloped on the hindquarters of Typhoon Connie (5) on the first turn, causing Typhoon Connie (5) to tail off sharply and hamper nearly all runners except Zelia (6), with Kelly Maree (4) worst affected".
A GWIC spokesperson said the incident would be investigated further.
"The commission's on-track veterinarian provided immediate pain relief on the track before transporting the greyhound to the veterinary room," the spokesperson said.
"Due to the severity of the injury and the poor prognosis for recovery the difficult decision was made to humanely euthanase the greyhound.
"Prior to the race meeting, the commission's stewards performed a pre-race inspection of the track and did not have any concerns with the track surface.
"This incident will be further analysed at the next meeting of the Race Injury Review Panel."
Saturday's incident comes ahead of the annual Million Dollar Chase, which Mr Anderson said should be used to help improve track safety.
"Greyhounds run at 60km per hour and deaths and injuries are inevitable," he said.
"Most incidents occur at track curves where the dogs bunch together, and broken legs are common.
"This week the greyhound racing industry will hold the Million Dollar Chase, which highlights the immoral nature of the industry.
"The money should be directed towards improving track safety and rehabilitating injured greyhounds, not killing them because they can't race again."
Billy Jupp
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
