THE welfare of Victoria’s greyhounds will be improved and systems will be made more transparent with the state government’s new Whole of Life Digital Tracking Program.
Minister for Racing, Anthony Carbines, recently announced more than $2 million in funding for the program, which will take the location and health of registered greyhounds and record it on one consolidated digital platform from birth, throughout their racing career and into retirement and rehoming.
“We are backing Greyhound Racing Victoria to improve its oversight of a greyhound’s health throughout their life, as part of our work to continually improve welfare outcomes for all animals,” Minister Carbines said.
“This system will revolutionise the way that registered greyhounds are tracked across the industry, providing real-time updates on the status of an animal at every key touch point.”
This will improve animal welfare by ensuring transparent and accurate accounting of every Victorian greyhound at all stages of their lifecycle.
Tracking information will include details on birth, microchipping, vaccinations, trainers and ownership. Information will be captured directly from owners, trainers, vets, greyhound racing clubs and other Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV) staff to build a greater understanding of a greyhound’s medical history throughout their life.
This data is currently collected manually and sits across multiple platforms, requiring significant efforts to maintain records and preventing people from viewing a greyhound’s status in real-time.
This new platform will eliminate the need for these manual processes. The state government is providing more than $1.6 million to the project, with GRV also contributing $418,000. This investment delivers on the state government’s commitment to implement a whole of life digital tracking system for greyhounds.
“The digital greyhound tracking program will leverage existing capability and programs and introduce a suite of opportunities to increase the number of check-in points required for the tracking of registered greyhounds throughout their life,” GRV chief executive Stuart Laing said.
“With the support of the Victorian government, this program will further improve GRV’s capabilities to monitor, track and assure the welfare of Victorian greyhounds.”
Design and planning for the program is currently underway, with the new system expected to be rolled out in phases.
The greyhound racing industry in Victoria generates $643 million for the economy and helps sustain more than 4700 full-time equivalent local jobs.
