Live baiting claims a shock: racing chief

Allegations of live baiting in the greyhound industry came as a shock, Victoria's racing integrity commissioner says.

Victoria's racing integrity commissioner believes the illegal practice of live baiting is isolated in the greyhound industry.

Sal Perna says the allegations of live baiting aired in an ABC report were a shock and he was only aware of one instance, which was disproved, in his five years in the job.

Mr Perna says the extent of the practice isn't known.

"My guess is that it is isolated but I really don't know yet," he told reporters on Tuesday.

He says he will investigate the extent of the problem.

Mr Perna said he would conduct a wide-ranging inquiry.

"I want to talk to people in the industry who know about this - whether it's current, or whether it's historical, or whether this is isolated or not."

He said it would be premature to stop greyhound racing when the extent of the problem was not known.

Twenty-three greyhound industry participants in Victoria, NSW and Queensland have been stood down for allegedly being involved in live baiting.

Mr Perna said reform was needed to stop trainers getting around sanctions by transferring ownership of dogs to relatives.

"If it doesn't have any effect because they can move a dog over to someone else and continue to be doing what they did, they're not working and they need to be addressed," he said of sanctions.


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Source: AAP


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