12th October 2014
Logan community members and a coalition of greyhound protection groups have turned out in force to loudly protest state government plans to build a new greyhound racing track at Cronulla Park, Slacks Creek.
Two hundred and thirty protesters, along with dozens of rescued greyhounds, attended the rally in the now long‐running campaign to try and stop the greyhound track going ahead. Greyhound protection groups in attendance included organisers, Animal Liberation Qld, along with Animal Welfare League (Qld), Friends of the Hound, Gone are the dogs, and Grey2K USA Worldwide.
Animal Liberation Qld spokesperson, Hayley Cotton, said, “10 000 people have now signed the latest petition against the track. Much larger numbers have turned out for today’s protest, compared to our first protest back in 2012. Opposition grows every day and it’s time the state government listened to the people on this issue and respected their views.”
Ms Cotton said, “Logan people are overwhelmingly against the track. They simply don’t want more gambling in their city. Many people have also become aware that the greyhound industry is a dog‐killing industry. They don’t want Logan’s image tarnished by an association with an industry which has a low regard for animal welfare.”
President of Animal Welfare League (Qld), Sylvana Wenderhold who attended the rally said, “We are concerned about the close proximity of the Logan racetrack to our shelters. We find homes
for many greyhounds discarded by the industry, but this new track will mean a huge increase of greyhounds coming into our shelters, adding extra pressure to our already at‐capacity shelters.
“It’s immoral that greyhounds have their natural life span cut short when they are no longer financially viable to the racing industry. We are committed to ending the pet overpopulation problem, which is a struggle without the added pressure of thousands of discarded greyhounds from Logan. Currently we could fill all our shelters entirely with greyhounds and still not have enough homes to save every one of them.”