TasRacing blame GRV for false greyhound info, Animal Liberation blame Newscorp
TasRacing has blamed errors in greyhound traceability on inaccuracies in Greyhound Racing Victoria's greyhound database.
The claims were in response to a social media video post from Animal Liberation Tasmania (ALT), who were seeking to suggest that TasRacing were deliberately hiding the greyhound death of Just Like Jazzy.
The since deleted video contained many inaccuracies itself, and ALT has since had to apologise for spreading false information but have blamed the falsehoods on the Newscorp-owned Greyhound Recorder.
A Facebook statement from ALT said that “We got it wrong. And we're not ashamed to admit we got it wrong. And we apologise for providing inaccurate information.”
But they then went on blame the Greyhound Recorder for providing them with false information.
The ALT statement added their social media post “was based on information from The Greyhound Recorder, which is run by pro-greyhound individuals, and was endorsed by Greyhound Clubs Australia as providing comprehensive and accurate data.”
Despite the fact that ALT seems totally oblivious to the fact that Newscorp owns and publishes The Greyhound Recorder, they claim to have had some influence over those that run the site, saying that “the website seems to be in the process of being updated by their administrators as we speak, with accurate names added and an entire trainer's listing currently scrubbed”.
A TasRacing statement said that “the latest social media post by Animal Liberation Tasmania (ALT) and its claims about a greyhound called Just Like Jazzy contain a number of inaccuracies that need to be corrected.”
TasRacing said that ALT falsely named the wrong trainer of Just Like Jazzy.
The TasRacing spokesperson then went on to explain that “the OzChase system (used in Tasmania and all other states except Victoria) lists Just Like Jazzy as “deceased”, which is correct.
The Victorian greyhound database (Fast Track) lists Just Like Jazzy as being retired.
The TasRacing Animal Welfare Review, initiated by TasRacing and conducted by Dr David Sykes, recommended the development of an accurate and up-to-date location record system for all greyhounds at the point of rehoming and provided new owners with the opportunity to continue to maintain that information on the central database through mobile touchpoint technology.
As a consequence of the review, the Tasmanian RSCPA has been funded and tasked with implementing greyhound traceability post-retirement, and provided an additional $200,000 to support the new racing integrity model.
TasRacing endorses and supports the implementation of including the RSPCA in the traceability outcomes, but ALT has gone on record saying they do not support the RSPCA's involvement.
The ALT spokesperson said that “it should not be the responsibility of RSPCA Tasmania to track and trace the dogs bred, trained, raced, and discarded by the industry, irrespective of how much money is thrown at them to do so.”
TasRacing has said they “will keep a watchful eye on the performance of the RSPCA” with regard to the implementation of the greyhound traceability program in Tasmania.