Racing Minister Winston Peters announced on December 10 that greyhound racing in New Zealand would be banned after a 20-month phase-out period.
Otago Greyhound Racing Club president and Willowbridge resident Murray Hill said the sport had not had "a fair go".
"We keep getting a lot of negative publicity. They keep making out that the dogs get injured all the time.
"This isn’t actually the case. They hardly ever get injured.
"When we were at Forbury Park, they had two seasons where they didn’t have an injury."
He questioned why greyhound racing was being singled out.
"If they’re going to ban greyhound racing, why aren’t they going to ban all these other contact sports and racing sports and rodeos and that?"
To make the sport even safer, Mr Hill said they were trying to build a straight track at the Oamaru racecourse.
This was to lessen the risk of injuries by having greyhounds race in a straight line rather than around corners.
At the heart of the issue were the people who would be put out of work due to the ban.
"It’s going to affect a lot of people.
"I’ve had 40 years of it so it’s not as bad for me but there’s some people that it’s all they’ve known is racing greyhounds."
Mr Hill believed Waitaki MP Miles Anderson was supportive of the Otago club’s cause, after lobbying him.
However, Mr Anderson said that was not quite the case.
"I was certainly sympathetic to the fact the industry had been given a relatively short time to wind itself up but I can’t see there to be any way back for the industry in New Zealand at the moment."
There seemed to be international consensus about a ban as only four other countries still allowed commercial greyhound racing, Mr Anderson said.
"It is being banned so regardless of what I think, that’s what’s going to happen.
"Currently, with the outcomes that were happening, there would be only a very limited number of people [who] would’ve supported the continuation of greyhound racing."
The biggest concern now was rehoming the greyhounds and he encouraged the public to "seriously consider" adopting one.
