Greyhound Racing NSW’s shameful fail
Animal Liberation team
Last updated August 27, 2024
The damning allegations that just keep coming…
Disturbing allegations followed GRNSW’s closure of the Greyhounds As Pets (GAP NSW) “adoption centre” at Wyee, raising serious concerns about the GRNSW 'Aussie Mates in the States' rehoming program, and the welfare of NSW greyhounds under the care and custody of GRNSW, GAP NSW, and the lack of ‘greyhound welfare’ oversight by the Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission (GWIC).
The issues that continue to fester…
Recent revelations have cast a dark shadow over the greyhound racing industry, uncovering a series of alarming issues. These include:
Abuse and cruelty: reports of mistreatment and neglect paint a grim picture of GRNSW’s oversight of greyhound welfare;
Deaths in transit: greyhounds exported to the US are suffering and dying during transit, while others are being stockpiled in overcrowded kennels upon arrival;
Staff bullying: allegations of workplace harassment and bullying among staff have emerged;
Criminal links: disturbing connections to the outlawed ‘Finks’ bikie gang have surfaced, raising serious concerns about integrity;
Corruption and cover-ups: accusations of corruption and cover-ups are continuing to undermine trust in the program’s administration and accountability;
Wyee ‘Adoption Centre’ scandal: the closure of GRNSW’s Wyee ‘Adoption Centre’ has brought to light the non-compliance of the facility, with numerous greyhounds sustaining injuries under highly alarming conditions.
These issues highlight a critical need for immediate action and comprehensive reform to ensure the safety and well-being of all industry greyhounds involved in these programs.
What we’ve done to date (and we’re just warming up)
Below is a brief snapshot of the work that we have done to date:
Issued a joint media release with the Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds;
Corresponded with GWIC, including a list of more than 25 related questions;
Corresponded with Qantas calling for an end to greyhound exports;
Corresponded with Lake Macquarie City Council about the GRNSW Wyee facility and planning approval history;
Compiled and lodged our formal concerns about GRNSW, GAP NSW, the Wyee facility and the 'Aussie Mates in the States' rehoming program with the relevant animal welfare authorities;
Published images of the Wyee facility conditions and injuries sustained by greyhounds at the facility;
Compiled and circulated tools so you can express your concerns about NSW greyhounds to the NSW Premier, NSW Minister for Racing, and NSW Minister for Agriculture.
What we’ve said
Quotes attributed to Lisa Ryan, Regional Campaigns Manager, Animal Liberation
"We have called on Qantas to put greyhound welfare before company profits. Qantas has a clear and ethical responsibility to announce an end to their complicit role in this US scheme, or they risk the wrath of their own Australian and international customers, who care deeply about the welfare and wellbeing of greyhounds”
“In spite of the establishment of the Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission (GWIC) by the NSW Government, the ‘welfare’ of greyhounds is still being dictated by the commercial arm under Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) and their rehoming arm, Greyhounds As Pets (GAP NSW). These bodies, combined with the broken promises by successive NSW Governments’ all continue to fail vulnerable greyhounds and the NSW animal loving public. We still have an animal exploiting industry who are a law unto themselves which is largely self regulated and driven by greed, cruelty and a lack of independent oversight; and the kicker is, the NSW taxpayers are now funding GWIC. How many more greyhounds need to suffer and die before we take animal welfare seriously along with the mismanagement of public money?”
Click here to read Animal Liberation’s joint media release with the Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds.
Injuries and non-compliance at GRNSW’s Wyee Adoption Centre
How much funding has GAP NSW been allocated in recent years?
| Fiscal year | Funds |
|---|---|
| 2020 | $3.4 million |
| 2021 | $4.9 million |
| 2022 | $7.2 million |
| 2023 | $11.2 million |
| 2024 | Unavailable |
GAP NSW’s ‘rehome’ rates in recent years
| Year | GAP NSW | Voluntary orgs. |
|---|---|---|
| FY 2020 | 246 | 373 |
| FY 2021 | 339 | 447 |
| FY 2022 | 301 | 365 |
| FY 2023 | 404 | 314 |
| FY 2024 | Unavailable* | Unavailable* |
* published information by GRNSW and GWIC is often conflicting and we are therefore reviewing with caution.
Allocation of public money to Greyhound Racing NSW and the Regulator, the Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission
The NSW greyhound racing industry and all by association continue to sucker feed from the misery and suffering of NSW greyhounds. The public money wasted on this cruel and unsustainable industry has been a bottomless pit, and still, NSW greyhounds are being maimed, abused, neglected, and killed by an industry that remains entrenched and incapable of reform.
GWIC was established in 2018 and was initially funded by GRNSW. However, since the introduction of the NSW taxpayer funded model in 2020/21, GWIC has been funded by the NSW State Government with public money. It should be noted that GWIC has continued to receive some funding from GRNSW via betting tax.
The table below represents some of the public money allocated to the broad greyhound racing industry in NSW, but does not include public money towards the industry’s ‘Safer Tracks’ program.
| Year | Funding | Description |
|---|---|---|
| FY 2023 | $20.6 million | GWIC (Regulator) funding |
| FY 2022 | $3.6 million | Partial e-tracking system |
| FY 2022 | $19.7 million | GWIC (Regulator) funding |
The last three years of industry funding
| Year | Funding | Description |
|---|---|---|
| FY 2023 | $20.6 million | GWIC (Regulator) funding |
| FY 2023 | $19.1 million | Remaining funds for 'safe' tracks program |
| FY 2023 | $8.6 million | GRNSW funding |
| FY 2022 | $19.7 million | GWIC (Regulator) funding | FY 2022 | $8.6 million | GRNSW funding |
| FY 2022 | $3.6 million | Partial e-tracking system |
| FY 2021 | $5.3 million | GWIC (Regulator) funding |
| FY 2021 | $16.4 million | GRNSW funding |
| FY 2021-23 | $52 million | Land Tax exemption for NSW dog and horse racing industry |
Dubious claims by the NSW Minister for Racing, Greyhound Racing NSW and the Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission
On February 22, 2024, Minister for Gaming and Racing, David Harris, commented on the industry’s upgraded tracking system:
“This public search capability not only makes the NSW greyhound racing industry the most transparent in the world but elevates the community’s confidence in the industry”.
Similarly, on February 22, 2024, Steve Griffin, CEO of the Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission, stated:
“We are striving to be a world-leader in racing welfare and governance and pioneering technology such as this reflects that ambition”.
In a February 2024 article “celebrating” the 500th greyhound exported to the US, Rob Macaulay, CEO of GRNSW, stated:
“Such is the demand for greyhounds as pets in the United States, we are on target for 1,000 adoptions for 2024. To see our retired greyhounds undergoing a career change and playing such a vital role in these people’s lives is something all within our industry should be proud of.
And while the US program is significant in GRNSW’s rehoming strategy, it is there to support the strong foundations we have in place on the domestic front. GRNSW’s investment in Greyhounds As Pets reached record levels last year and remains at the forefront of everything we do, and as we always say, the welfare of our greyhounds is, and will always be, our number one priority.
“When we first launched the Aussie Mates in the States program back in January last year, with the first eight greyhounds touching down in Los Angeles on Australia Day 2023, there was a great deal of scepticism about whether the program could be a success. But we all knew exactly what this program could be, we all knew what loving pets greyhounds are, and we knew the demand was there in the US for pet greyhounds.”
Click here to read the full media release and here to read the article.
Response from Animal Liberation’s Regional Campaigns Manager, Lisa Ryan
“Ongoing assurances, commitments and promises from the NSW State Government and the industry continue to disappoint and fail the greyhounds. They also ignore growing public opposition to an industry that relies on overbreeding and forcing dogs to race for gambling profits. None of these initiatives, promises, or the culture of participants in this commercial venture will prevent the maiming and deaths of racing greyhounds. The industry is incapable of reform and no assurances will stop the killing of greyhounds by blunt force trauma or the unacceptable injury and death rates on greyhound deathtracks”
The latest claims by GRNSW CEO, Rob Macaulay:
On 7 June 2024, GRNSW’s CEO, Rob Macaulay, sent the following communication to GRNSW participants. Mr. Macaulay’s claims - and our considered and informed responses - are outlined below. Tap the image to enlarge.
Responses from Lisa Ryan, Animal Liberation’s Regional Campaigns Manager, to Rob Macaulay
Below are responses from our Regional Campaign Manager, Lisa Ryan, to claims made by Mr. Macaulay in the 7 June communication to GRNSW participants. Simply tap a quote to read our response.
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The shocking allegations about GRNSW, GAP NSW and the Wyee facility have been raised by several sources beginning with the dismissed GAP NSW staff. The Wyee images of injuries sustained by some of the greyhounds (published on this webpage) because of the conditions at Wyee, speak for themselves.
Is Mr Macaulay now implying that former GAP NSW staff are making things up or that the images have been manipulated?
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Factually, GWIC was established by the NSW State Government as a direct result of the abhorrent and distressing revelations by brave animal activists, including:
live baiting
mass greyhound pits
ongoing greyhound abuse, drugging and cruelty
overbreeding
ongoing injuries and deaths on race tracks and trial tracks
the continuous killing on and off track of greyhounds
a swag of other disgraceful industry behaviours and practices.
Mr Macaulay omits all of the above - implying that GWIC was established as GRNSW’s private commission or as a ‘puppet’ for integrity that will never eventuate. The statutory objectives of the Commission are to:
promote and protect the welfare of greyhounds
safeguard the integrity of greyhound racing and betting
maintain public confidence in the greyhound racing industry.
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If the greyhound racing industry wasn’t breeding six times more greyhounds than can be raced, it would not need to warehouse all the discarded industry greyhounds, including those being exported to the US under the ‘Aussie Mates in the States’ program. The same number of greyhounds are now stockpiled in kennels, but with significantly less GAP NSW staff to care for them. The temporary closure of GRNSW’s Wyee facility was made solely for GRNSW commercial reasons, and an oversupply of discarded greyhounds.
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The GRNSW GAP NSW ‘Aussie Mates in the States’ program has only been in existence for a little over one year. For GRNSW to claim, without evidence, that it is “the largest, most successful program of its type anywhere in the world'“, smacks of the type of arrogance we have become accustomed to from GRNSW.
It is the volunteer greyhound rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming groups who operate on the smell of an oily rag, who deserve our undying applause, support and gratitude. It is these extraordinary volunteers who continue to pick up the pieces of this greedy, greyhound exploiting industry and repair the many broken greyhounds who survive a life of racing for gambling profits.
In response to Mr. Macaulay’s claim of “rehoming nearly 3,000 greyhounds per year”, our fact-checking confirms that GRNSW’s use the term “assisted” rehoming, includes greyhounds retained by participants as well as those given away to family, friends, or other industry participants. Thus, in reality, many of these greyhounds are simply relocated from one kennel to another. According to GRNSW’s own Annual Reports, the GRNSW “assisted” rehoming rates for the 2022/2023 period totalled 2,200 greyhounds, and is not even close to the 3,000 claimed by Mr. Macaulay.
GWIC reports help us to unpack the ‘real’ rehoming rates by GRNSW. For the 2023 financial year, the numbers include:
748 were retained by an industry participant
484 were rehomed privately by participants (e.g., sold, given away on Gumtree, or surrendered to pounds or shelters)
418 were rehomed by another animal welfare charity
This picture gets even worse in 2024, with 44% of retiring greyhounds retained by their owners/trainers between January and March 2024. That’s almost half of the dogs staying in the locations where they have been exploited as a racing animal. This leaves around 528 dogs who could conceivably have been rehomed by GRNSW in FY23. However, we know that because of the chronic overbreeding, many of these greyhounds are being stockpiled and exported to the US, with some languishing in US kennels.
It is also interesting to note that, according to GRNSW, there was a 75% increase in rehoming between FY18 and FY19, and an 83% increase between FY19 and FY20. This increase has gradually reduced year on year until it achieved a woeful 0.4% rise under Mr. Macaulay’s leadership.
GRNSW continues to resist calls to publish transparent data with an accurate breakdown of greyhound rehoming. This is part of the industry’s ongoing culture of concealment. It allows GRNSW to claim that greyhounds kept by an industry participant after retirement have somehow been ‘rehomed’. GRNSW’s numbers also include those dogs given away or sold privately by industry participants with no record of their fate. This is not a definition of ‘rehoming’ that would be accepted by anyone outside the racing industry itself. GRNSW also takes credit for dogs rescued and rehomed by cash-strapped, over-stretched community rescues.
The simple solution to end the uncertainty and conjecture is for GRNSW to come clean and publish accurate and transparent data, including a full breakdown of NSW greyhound rehoming for the NSW taxpayers who are still funding much of this abhorrent industry.
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In relation to the GWIC October 2023 ‘audit’, Mr. Macaulay omits several of the report’s critical statements and the seven GWIC recommendations. It is also important to note that the GWIC audit was only measured against the already low bar of the ‘NSW Greyhound Industry Animal Welfare Committee’s Best Practice Guidelines for Greyhound Rehoming Organisations’.
“The Audit team did not seek to measure compliance with all applicable instruments, instead measuring compliance with relevant Australian standards”
“The Audit team was also able to inspect a small number of ‘ultimate homes’ in the US”
“However, due to the number of program partners, the Audit team was unable to conduct a full audit of the performance of US and Canadian partners”
“While noting that the Audit design did not cover the entire program, the Audit team was satisified that GRNSW is compliant with the Best Practice Guidelines in its management of the ‘Aussie Mates in the States’ Rehoming Program”.
You can read the three-page GWIC October 2023 audit report here.
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The extensive and multiple volumes of the McHugh report, including 79 recommendations, was published in 2016; that’s eight years ago. The Reform Panel report including 122 recommendations was published in 2017; that’s seven years ago.
How long is long enough to ‘deliver’ on recommendations Mr Macaulay?
This industry continues to overbreed, maim and kill greyhounds on and off track, and foster a culture where participants’ continue to neglect greyhound welfare, drug their dogs, kill their dogs because they are too slow or injured or kill them with methods including blunt force trauma, or “arrange” to have their greyhounds killed. For the greyhounds, nothing has changed.
GRNSW required to “show cause” in reply to the NSW Minister for Racing by 12 July 2024
On 3 July we were alerted to a full-page ad GRNSW had placed in the Daily Telegraph, and as we understand it, in multiple other NSW media outlets, likely to be Australian Community Media (ACM) outlets, with whom GRNSW has a relationship. This is what GRNSW have claimed in their ad and media release issued on 2 July 2024. Animal Liberation’s analysis of these GRNSW claims and our responses are provided below:
The above GRNSW ad is testimony to the desperate measures its former embattled CEO, Rob Macaulay, and a weak and apathetic GRNSW board of directors went to in a last-ditch effort and a desperate attempt by an industry on its knees, to try and shift the focus from fact to fantasy to save what is an unacceptable and unsustainable dog killing industry for gambling profits. In short GRNSW is attempting to circulate a smokescreen of misinformation and propaganda, and it won’t wash.
Animal Liberation and CPG’s response to this blatant advertising can be viewed in the slides below and was published both online and in multiple regional media outlets.
Responses from Lisa Ryan, Animal Liberation’s Regional Campaigns Manager, to GRNSW
Below are responses from our Regional Campaign Manager, Lisa Ryan, to the advertisements published on 3 July by GRNSW in Australian Community Media publications. Simply tap a quote to read our response.
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Animal Liberation has never had any trust or confidence in regard to GRNSW’s purported greyhound rehoming numbers. In contrast, the NSW regulator GWIC only includes dogs that are actually sent to a home as a companion animal. GRNSW, on the other hand, includes dogs that are desexed and remain with the trainer or owners and those dogs privately sold or given away by industry participants with no record of their fate.
In its July-December 2022 greyhound lifecycle report, GWIC stated there were around 4,700 greyhounds looking for homes and only around 1,300 homes available for them - it’s only getting worse as GRNSW refuses to impose breeding caps. The industry is breeding six times more greyhounds than will be suitable for racing or can be rehomed. These dogs are viewed as expendable commodities, either well-functioning, or broken-down car parts and the greyhounds are dealt with accordingly.
GRNSW's response to the rehoming crisis has been to export hundreds of Australian greyhounds to the US. Some have died in transit, and many are now languishing in US kennels rather than Australian homes, and others are sent, untrained, as therapy dogs for police officers with PTSD. There is no transparency around what happens with these dogs. GWIC’s October 2023 review into the ‘Aussie Mates in the States’ program, gives us no confidence at all with the program.
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Animal Liberation can’t comment on how much money GRNSW is making including its blood money from the suffering and killing of gentle greyhounds for gambling profits. We would refer those interested to GRNSW’s annual reports.
GRNSW itself has recognised that a collapse in wagering has resulted in a contraction of their business, and they have responded by closing non-TAB tracks, which their creative communications team translated as a “new track safety and welfare strategy” and by threatening to reduce prize money.
More recently NSW racing clubs moved to go on strike after GRNSW threatened to slash club funding by 20% and the strike was only abated when GRNSW agreed to scrap the cuts and instead savings will be recovered from prize money.
GRNSW also continues to make a range of claims about their contribution to employment and economic success. However, these claims, like everything GRNSW related, need to be investigated very carefully. The horse and dog racing industry in Australia and New Zealand commission a regular supply of reports from consultancy firm IER. These reports are produced to “meet the requirements" of state racing bodies and cannot be considered objective or unbiased.
The reports produced by IER should not be confused with “Independent Expert Reports” which are required by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission to provide impartial and credible advice. The approach used by IER is considered unreliable and misleading by economists, the Tasmanian Department of Treasury and Finance, and the Australian Productivity Commission.
Racing NSW claims that NSW greyhound racing “sustains” 4,343 full time equivalent jobs, yet the report states that only 2,031 are classed as “direct” employment. Given that the Australian Bureau of Statistics census 2021 shows only 2,405 FTE employed in the NSW racing industry across thoroughbred, harness and greyhounds, this is a significant exaggeration.
The Harness Racing NSW IER report claims they are directly responsible for 1,602 jobs. In its FY23 Annual Report, GRNSW states that thoroughbred racing offers “more than 27,600 full-time-equivalent jobs”. That's a total of over 21,000, an exaggeration of 9 times when compared to the census figures.
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Let’s start with the term “track safety”, which is in itself a complete oxymoron because there is no such thing as a ‘safe’ track.
The vast amount of money invested into so-called track safety has been public money. $30m of taxpayer money has been wasted by GRNSW trying to make their death tracks safe, but the greyhounds continue to suffer an unacceptable volume injuries and death. GRNSW claimed that engineering advice from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) improved track safety. The evidence tells a very different story.
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What GRNSW and its participants consider “unnecessary” and what compassionate people consider “unnecessary” are poles apart. There is also ample evidence to confirm that the industry continues to kill greyhounds for all sorts of reasons. If GRNSW was more transparent with their data, better analysis and conclusions could be reached.
Claiming “zero unnecessary” euthanasia, only has meaning if it’s enforced and the killing stops. If the killing continues because it’s more economic to kill than provide vet care, rehabilitation and a loving home; killing healthy greyhounds is not euthanasia. One shocking example is GRNSW participant Ben Talbot, being rewarded by GWIC, to sit on a committee, when Talbot himself had had a perfectly healthy greyhound killed in a race track carpark and was suspended for two years, while the GWIC paid vet received a slap on the wrist. GWIC subsequently stood Talbot down when it became public as referenced in this GWIC media release.
The industry’s own data shows racing injuries have increased in the first half of 2024 compared to the first half of 2023. Further, NSW was the most lethal Australian state in 2023, with 42 greyhounds killed on track, and 28 other greyhounds were removed from the track, after being injured, and killed later. In late 2023, UTS severed its ties with the racing industry after an integrity and governance review.
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GRNSW doesn’t oversee investigations or hand out penalties – that responsibility was removed from them and given to the independent regulator, GWIC. Animal Liberation’s monthly tracking of GWIC investigations shows the ongoing entrenched culture of GRNSW and its inability and refusal to reform.
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Only GRNSW audited records can confirm their female staff ratio, and do they seriously want a pat on the back for this? Perhaps GRNSW should also confirm how many of their female staff are in management and executive positions. GRNSW also needs to come clean about the allegations from former Wyee staff (now sacked), many of whom are female, and includes allegations of bullying by GRNSW senior staff.
The damning ‘Brittan’ report (updated)…
We have updated our published Brittan Report to include the full report by former GRNSW vet, Dr Alex Brittan, and previously unavailable attachments. You can view and download all this information below.
Former GRNSW Chief Veterinary Officer, Dr Alex Brittan, compiled and submitted a deeply disturbing and distressing report about GRNSW, GAPS NSW, the ‘facilities’, exports and the very culture of the NSW greyhound racing industry.
The associated parties, GWIC, Hanrob ‘pet hotels’ and ‘safe and stress free transport’, IATA (International Air Transport Association), and the Animal Welfare Committee (GRNSW, President Welfare and Ethics Group-Australian Veterinary Association, Team Leader-Animal Welfare Policy and Programs, NSW Department of Primary Industries, General Counsel-RSPCA NSW, and a Greyhound industry representative) have all failed the greyhounds and the animal loving public.
The ’Brittan’ report and all attachments in their entirety can be viewed and downloaded by clicking on the images below. For uploading purposes due to the large file, we have split the report into six sections, titled:
Parts 1 to 5 (240815 SO52 Non privileged Legal Arbiter 1 of 2)
Part 6 (240815 SO52 Non privileged Legal Arbiter 2 of 2).
Animal Liberation wishes to acknowledge and applaud Dr Brittan for his compassion, bravery, ethics and genuine efforts to try and make a difference to the welfare, wellbeing and protection of the discarded GRNSW and GAP NSW greys.
Statement from Lisa Ryan, Animal Liberation’s Regional Campaigns Manager, in response to the Brittan report
“We damn this cruel, exploitative gambling fuelled greyhound racing industry, It’s brutal, violent, lacking in any semblance of compassion, welfare or integrity, with no moral compass. Whatever inept social licence this disgraceful industry once claimed to exist, it’s been killed and buried along with thousands of innocent and discarded greyhounds, over decades.
We condemn GRNSW, GAP NSW and every MP or body tasked with the responsibility for greyhound welfare, wellbeing and protection – they have all failed in a blatant and spectacular fashion. In reply to the reported response provided to the government about greyhound deaths in transit, ‘this “shit happens” and our deep distress over the abhorrent deaths of ‘Jazzie’ and ‘Carey’, we say “this shit needs to end, shut it down!”
Background information and sources
The Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission (GWIC) inquiry
Details of the Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission (GWIC) Inquiry being conducted by Acting Commissioner the Hon. Lea Drake have now been announced and can be viewed at the Office of Racing’s website here.
Acting Commissioner Drake is required to report to the Minister for Gaming and Racing by 13 December 2024.
The Inquiry will look into matters relating to various complaints concerning Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) under Part 8 of the Greyhound Racing Act 2017.
The Terms of Reference for the inquiry can be accessed here. The official hearing dates will be published once finalised.
Public Submissions
Animal Liberation will be providing a comprehensive submission guide for this consultation process.
NSW Auditor General Review
Following the NSW Labor government’s attempts to sweep the greyhound racing industry’s scandals under the carpet with the announcement of a politically-constrained inquiry through GWIC, a written request was made to the Auditor-General requesting a performance review be conducted into GWIC, and the effectiveness of the regulatory framework set up in 2018.
The Auditor-General has agreed to include a performance audit of the regulation of the greyhound racing industry in the Audit Office’s Annual Work Program, with the audit commencing in early 2025.
The NSW Audit Office’s performance audits examine whether programs and services are delivered efficiently, effectively, economically and in accordance with the law. The scope of the performance audit of GWIC is yet to be published. Under the Government Sector Audit Act 1983, the Auditor-General has broad powers to carry out audits, including to compel the production of documents and require attendance.
Animal Liberation will provide updates about the Auditor-General’s review when available. You can stay engaged by signing up to our e-news.
Animal Liberation will always support ethical, meaningful and professional rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming programs for all animals, including greyhounds.
We also acknowledge the vital importance of ‘Ambassadors’ to promote and support such causes, much of which is undertaken in a voluntary unpaid capacity and with the very best interests of the animals at the forefront. We have no reason to doubt the genuine intentions of the GRNSW GAP NSW Ambassadors, however, given the recent shocking revelations and allegations involving GRNSW, GAP NSW, the Wyee facility, and the Ambassador’s positions of influence, we would ask them to reconsider their ongoing support of the greyhound racing industry in NSW and GRNSW, in particular.
Ambassadors for GAP NSW
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Tim Cahill
Soccer Player
“Animal welfare is something which has always been close to my heart, and the amazing work that GAP NSW do with retired greyhounds in transitioning them into the next phase of their lives, is something I’m proud to be a part of.”
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Ryan Papenhuyzen
Rugby League Player
“While I got a lot of enjoyment racing my greyhound Gary’s Gift, and celebrating each of his wins, what truly made me happy was seeing him find a loving home when his racing days were over.”
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Todd McKenney
TV Personality
“People’s perception of a greyhound and the reality of what a greyhound is actually like as a pet are often two different things. They are such a beautiful breed and often misunderstood.”
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Jess Fox
Olympic Gold Medallist
“I jumped online and within a week I got Pink as a foster dog. She had a calming presence and has brought so much joy to our home in a period of uncertainty. It's amazing to see the progress she has made and continues to make. It shows how important it is to foster and give these dogs love and patience.”
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Rheed McCracken
Paralympic Athlete
“To see her settle in and show all her quirks, and her smile has been the best thing we did, and I'm so thankful for GAP NSW for helping match us with Zyla and showing us the importance of giving these beautiful dogs a new home and life after racing.”
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Becchara Palmer
Beach Volleyball Player
“The biggest thing is I find him so grounding. When I am home, and when I am around him, he’s my best mate, so I find that I can recharge GAP NSWand recover and he’s the perfect recovery buddy.”
Images and information sourced from GAP NSW website.