Up to 17,000 healthy greyhounds are killed in Australia each year by a racing industry that overbreeds puppies then disposes of unwanted young dogs as "wastage", an inquiry has heard.
A secret document revealed at the opening of an inquiry into the NSW greyhound industry has exposed shocking statistics that will further damage an industry already rocked by revelations of rampant live baiting and animal cruelty.
The confidential report by Greyhounds Australasia - the peak national body for greyhound racing - and Greyhound Racing South Australia shows that between 13,000 and 17,000 healthy dogs are killed by the industry each year out of 17,500 dogs born - a rate of between 74 and 96 per cent.
"As little as four in every 100 greyhounds born each year will make it beyond about 42 months of age," counsel assisting the special commission of inquiry into the NSW greyhound industry Stephen Rushton SC said.
"As many as 96 in every 100 healthy young greyhounds born each year will be destroyed by the industry which bred them."
By comparison, the RSPCA puts down 7,307 dogs each year out of nearly 46,000 it takes in - a rate of 15.9 per cent, he said.
The court also heard graphic first-hand testimony of the brutal live-baiting practices that sparked the inquiry after an ABC Four Corners report revealed in February that live rabbits, piglets and possums were used to "blood" racing dogs.
Sydney trainer Wayne Smith described how he once threw a live rabbit into a pen with six or seven three-month-old greyhound pups he had bred at his home.
He was "blooding" the pups early "hopefully to get them chasing better", Mr Smith told the court.
On another occasion he and fellow trainer Adam Wallace dragged a live rabbit in front of a dog on a mechanical arm to "educate" the dog.
Greyhound Racing NSW had expressed shock after the ABC revelations but Mr Rushton said live baiting was "rampant" and GRNSW had known about the practice "from the get-go".
A 2010 GRNSW presentation on animal welfare mentioned "traditional training methods" - industry talk for live baiting - as well as the "illegal keeping of European rabbits" and "illegal use of live animals, eg: cats, possums, chickens etc".
GRNSW rule changes introduced after the ABC report did not comprehensively ban keeping small animals at dog tracks, and the court heard one trainer claimed a rabbit found in a cage beside a training "bullring" was his granddaughter's pet.
Up to 90 per cent of the industry had used live baiting, Mr Rushton said, and regulations to kick practitioners out of the industry "might not have left too many people standing".
Mr Rushton said the greyhound industry is in crisis but there are doubts it could achieve the cultural shift it needs to retain its social licence to operate.
The hearing continues on Tuesday.
