Bathurst greyhounds: New tracking technology to benefit industry

From Thursday, a new whole-of-life electronic tracking system will be introduced, which can easily scan a greyhound's microchip, which can present the dogs name, where it is, where it's raced and the whole history of the dog.

Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation and Tamworth MP, Kevin Anderson, was on hand at Bathurst's premier greyhound racing facility Kennerson Park on Thursday for the announcement, saying the new tracking technology will put an end to the speculation that animals have disappeared.

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"Once the new technology is implemented in the second half of this year, registered greyhounds will be sighted, scanned and accounted for on an annual basis," he said.

"The community has an expectation that the Greyhounds Welfare Integrity Commission can account for all registered greyhounds in NSW at all times. This new technology will guarantee the tracking and monitoring of every single registered greyhound across its life and ensure a safer and stronger industry."

Introducing a system that captures the whole-of-life location of greyhounds was one of the key recommendations accept by the NSW Government when the Greyhound Industry Reform Panel handed down its report into the industry in 2017.

The NSW Government has invested $3.6 million into the tracking technology, which is basically a global positioning system (GPS) tracker.

"We'll be able to track where every dog is, where it is and what time of the day," Mr Anderson said.

"We've just scanned two dogs here today in Bathurst and we zoomed in on the Google maps and they were located here, but it works anywhere, whether Lismore, Tamworth, Wagga, Casino. It doesn't matter where they are, they'll be able to be located."

The new tracking system is far more advanced then the previous system, which was all on paper.

Bathurst MP, Paul Toole, said the new system makes like easier for all greyhound trainers and owners.

"Over time, stewards will also be able to use the system to register dogs electronically on race days with just a few clicks, cutting red tape for trainers and owners and doing away with outdate paper systems," he said.

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