By XAVIER SMERDON
A WERRIBEE vet’s call for the Australian Government to stop a practice which has led to the death of almost 400 dogs has gone viral.
Dr Sam Long created an online petition after learning that Australian greyhounds were being exported to China to race in substandard conditions, and that when they were unable to perform or if they became injured, they were being destroyed.
Dr Long’s petition claims that last year alone almost 400 greyhounds were killed in Macau, an administrative region of China.
“There was a sense of horror when I found out about this, it really is something that just shouldn’t be happening,” Dr Long told Star.
“The majority of these dogs are sent to a racetrack in Macau called the Canidrome where the policy is to have any dog that does not perform well put down.
“The dogs are very cruelly treated because they are just considered commodities.
“I thought I have to do something about this.”
Dr Long, who lives in Newport, created the petition on 23 December last year and by 28 December he had received just 15 signatures after posting it on the website change.org.
When he checked the petition’s progress on 6 January he was amazed to see 15,000 people had signed it.
As of last week it had gone truly viral, receiving over 20,000 signatures and thousands of comments of support.
“I was really overwhelmed,” Dr Long said.
“To get over 16,000 signatures in a week shows that people really do care about this.”
Dr Long, who specialises as a neurologist and has spent much of his career working in the USA and Scotland, said he was aiming to get 30,000 people to sign the petition before he presented it to the Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce, which he hoped to do in person.
Star contacted Mr Joyce’s office for comment but they did not respond before deadline.
The greyhound industry in Australia has also remained silent on the issue, with Greyhounds Australasia, the peak national body for the industry, failing to release the results of its own review into its approach to live exports including the development of a set of standards for countries importing Australian greyhounds for over a year.
The group has come under fire for not even confirming if it has completed the review.
Star wrote to the CEO of Greyhounds Australasia, Craig Taberner, for comment but received a notice that he was on leave.
Star also wrote to the group’s Office Manager, Steven Hosking, Accounts Manager, Michelle Grima and Administration Officer, Aiden Sellwood requesting comment but did not receive any response.
Dr Long’s petition is at www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/barnaby-joyce-minister-for-agriculture-ban-the-export-of-greyhounds-from-australia-to-racetracks-overseas
