Greyhound rescuer Peta Akester said she was ‘extremely angry’ in the wake of the state governments backflip on greyhound racing.
Ms Akester, from East Kurrajong, voiced her delight a few months ago when the Premier Mike Baird made the decision to ban greyhound racing from mid next year.
The owner of two rescued, former racing greyhounds herself, Ms Akester said she thought Baird would have stuck to his guns.
“I was extremely angry on the day he made the announcement,” she said.
“I had really thought he was different, a Politician who actually had a backbone and would back up the statement that he made three months ago, especially as the bill was passed with a majority vote.”
The Baird government confirmed the backdown of its ban on greyhound racing in NSW following a sustained campaign of media and industry pressure.
It had been reported the new deal would be a reversal of the ban but with some conditions and some of the key changes will be the same as those proposed by the greyhound industry.
“It was unbelievable how much the big newspapers are gave it to him, between them and the radio pro-racers he didn’t stand a chance, without them, the trainers themselves would have probably made a token effort,” Ms Akester said.
“I also couldn’t believe that Luke Foley would get in on it, the supposed Party that cares for animal welfare, what a joke.
Ms Akester said she didn’t believe the racing industry would change its ways, saying it was a never ending vicious circle.
“Trainers believe that a dog has an “edge” if it has been live-baited, and therefore for it to win, it has to have the edge over another dog that has also been live-baited.
“I also do not see how the industry can be physically policed. The very nature of it is secretive, training methods are secret, breeding is secret, trainers hold things very close to their chests.
“They also are not afraid to threaten in order to obtain silence. Innumerable puppies will still be bred to attempt to find the “perfect” dog, how it could possibly be capped at 2,000 remains to be seen.”