MEDIA RELEASE

Greyhounds Australasia (GA) at its September Board meeting received revised recommendations in regard to the microchipping of greyhounds for the Australian and New Zealand greyhound racing industries.

Specifically, the revised microchip recommendations are:

• All greyhounds whelped from 1 January 2011 are to be microchipped and ear branded in one ear 
• All existing racing stock will be allowed to race without a microchip until they retire 
•  From 1 January 2012 all racing greyhounds will be eligible to race if indentified by either two ear brands or a microchip and one ear brand

The revised position addresses integrity concerns raised in some jurisdictions about the potential removal and duplication of microchips whilst allowing existing racing stock to be ‘grand-fathered’ from the requirement to be chipped.

At the September GA meeting the Board resolved to: 

1.  Financially contribute $120,000 p.a. over the next 3 years to cover the basic microchip cost for its Members 
2. Request each GA Member to formally consider its position on the revised proposal prior to the November meeting 
3.  GA members to seek input of industry participants on its revised proposal 
4.  A final decision to be made on the microchipping of greyhounds at the 26 November meeting The Chairman of Greyhounds Australasia, Jan Wilson said, “the Sub Committee recommendations on microchipping were carefully considered, after all information was provided and I thank them for their role in this important matter”.

“We knew this would be a contentious issue and I firmly believe in the foreseeable future State Governments will require all dogs and cats to be identified in this way”. “When this occurs, GA will be prepared”.

Greyhounds Australasia Chief Executive Officer, Craig Taberner said, “If it were an industry requirement to microchip greyhounds and tattoo one ear, we would still be improving our animal welfare practices and it would provide the industry with the opportunity to embrace technology”.

“Mr Taberner went further by explaining some of the technology benefits associated with microchips and outlined them as follows”:

• Potential elimination of greyhound registration papers by electronic photo identification
• Uploading and downloading of greyhound data automatically into Controlling Body computer systems instead of manually keying data 
•  Monitor the health of a greyhound through the use of temperature sensor microchips - Establish efficiencies at kenneling through the use of scanners 
•  The use of automatic weighing systems to replace the current manual system 
•  Additional integrity checks prior to boxing 
•  Offer industry advancements for participants who wish to monitor their greyhounds via recording of; weight changes, trial times, feeding regimes via a scanner and utilization of home computer associated technology

The revised recommendations are subject to endorsement or otherwise by individual GA Member jurisdictions and will be tabled for discussion at the GA Board meeting being held in Melbourne on 26 November 2009.

If participants have any questions in relation to this matter, please contact GA or your respective Controlling Body.