16th February 2015

Australians love their sport.

Australians also love a punt.

Right now, Australians love betting on greyhound racing, the sport based on pushing dogs to their limits.

With more than 40,000 races and more than 300,000 dogs running at tracks across the country each year, Australians are now wagering $4 billion a year on the sport. Prize-money has skyrocketed and greyhound racing is riding a wave of renewed popularity.

The message to punters is that the sport has cleaned-up and modernised; the welfare of animals is now at the forefront of the industry.

But things are not as they seem.

This week Four Corners reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna leads a gritty investigation into the darkest secrets of the sport, exposing the gruesome underbelly of greyhound racing.

This investigation will rock the industry, and the sport, to its core.

Making a Killing reveals widespread cheating and illegality across the country, and throws into question the validity of thousands of greyhound races and millions of dollars.

How the cheating is actually done is so extreme it defies belief. What some trainers are prepared to do, to give their dogs the winning edge, will shock even the most hardened viewer.

As someone who has looked closely at the sport tells Meldrum-Hanna:

"Putting together animals, gambling and prize purses is a toxic mix. It's capable of turning men into monsters."

What a small team of investigators with limited resources has managed to uncover in Making a Killing should put the regulators of the industry to shame and change the sport forever.

MAKING A KILLING, reported by Caro Meldrum-Hanna and presented by Kerry O'Brien, goes to air on Monday 16th February at 8.30pm on ABC. It is replayed on Tuesday at 10.00am and again at midnight on Wednesday. It can also be seen on ABC News 24 at 8.00pm on Saturday, ABC iview or abc.net.au/4corners.

EDITORIAL NOTE: The John Cauchi from Box Hill who featured in 4 Corners "Making a Killing" is not the same person as Mr John Cauchi who runs "All Stock Feeds" at 13 Edwards Road, Box Hill

Transcript

Making a Killing, 16 February 2015

KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: The dark underbelly of dog racing in Australia: welcome to Four Corners.

If horse racing is the sport of kings, then greyhound racing by comparison is the sport of the battler - but still involving big money. It's also a sport with blood on its hands: blood and cruelty, big-time.

And then there's the cheating: hundreds of thousands of punters bet more than $4 billion a year on the greyhounds. What most of them don't know is that scores of owners and trainers, including some of the biggest names in the business, are secretly "blooding" their dogs with live bait. They believe it gives the dogs a distinct advantage over competitors not exposed to the practice, for the simple reason that their bloodlust is up.

Acting on information from Four Corners and undercover footage from Animal Liberation Queensland and Animals Australia, the RSPCA and police raided training tracks in three states last week. As a result, the sports regulators have suspended 22 people involved in allegations of live baiting, using piglets, possums and rabbits.

If found guilty they face big fines and, possibly, jail.

We have evidence that shows the practice is much wider. What you are about to see is barbaric and puts the industry to shame.

The reporter is Caro Meldrum-Hanna and the trail starts in Queensland.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA, REPORTER: It's a stifling 35-degree day in Churchable, Queensland.

(footage of greyhounds in kennels)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA (to Deborah Arnold): So, Deb, these dogs here: how many have you got in here?

DEBORAH ARNOLD, PRESIDENT, UNITED QLD GREYHOUNDS ASSN.: There's 19 in there. They're the...

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Deborah Arnold, president of the United Queensland Greyhounds Association and a prominent trainer and breeder, has agreed to let us film around her property, Dessa Downs.

She wants to show us how well her dogs are cared for, away from the public scrutiny of the racetrack.

DEBORAH ARNOLD: All the kennels have to be RSPCA, Racing Queensland, um, approved. So they have got to be a certain size, a certain height, they have got to have their beds and all that sort of thing, so...

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Yeah, and this meets the...?

DEBORAH ARNOLD: Yep. Definitely meets the requirements. Yep.

(Deborah Arnold brings out a greyhound pup)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA (to Deborah Arnold): Look at this.

DEBORAH ARNOLD: This one's about two weeks old.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: There are more than 70 greyhounds here, from newborn puppies to racing dogs.

(to Deborah Arnold) So more dogs in here?

DEBORAH ARNOLD: Yep. This is actually the race kennel in here.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: There are rumours of a dark underbelly to this sport: of live baiting, an archaic training method where small, defenceless animals are tied down to a lure, mauled and killed.

Deborah Arnold doesn't like talking about it.

(to Deborah Arnold) Do you think people still do it?

DEBORAH ARNOLD: Um... If they do I don't know about it and I don't really want to know about it. Um, but yeah, so this is the...

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Why? 'Cause it's just not...

DEBORAH ARNOLD: It's cruel. Yeah. You know, it's not...

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Right. It's not the done thing?

DEBORAH ARNOLD: No, it's not the done thing.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Deborah Arnold is lying.

(footage from hidden surveillance camera of piglet, squealing, tied to a lure. The lure accelerates)

It's late 2014. Deborah Arnold's dog, Dorak Dessa, is being blooded with a live piglet at a training track across the road from her property.

(footage of man lifting piglet from lure and dropping it into a hessian sack as Deborah Arnold passes by)

DEBORAH ARNOLD: I'll pay you, Tom.

TOM NOBLE: Yeah.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: She's a regular customer here.

DEBORAH ARNOLD: What's the quickest been today?

TOM NOBLE, TRAINER: That one there, 53.

DEBORAH ARNOLD: Mine?

TOM NOBLE: Yeah.

DEBORAH ARNOLD: Oh, OK.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: This is live baiting, banned and criminalised decades ago because of the extreme levels of cruelty and its performance-enhancing properties.

Rumours of organised, secret live baiting rings have persisted, but evidence of it actually occurring has never been found - until now.

Tonight we uncover greyhound racing's dirtiest secret: organised cruelty and cheating on a grand scale.

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: We gonna go out to the dog racing, mate.

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE 2: Where the real money is.

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: That's where the money is.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: This could be the biggest discovery in recent times of systematic cheating and illegal activities in a sport in Australia?

LYN WHITE, CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR, ANIMALS AUSTRALIA: Absolutely. In simple terms, what is happening is cheating. Putting together animals, gambling and prize purses is a toxic mix: ah, that it's capable of turning men into monsters.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Using undercover investigators and piecing together hundreds of hours of surveillance vision captured on secret cameras, we've discovered live baiting rings operating in private across the country, undetected by the industry's state regulators, hidden behind their marketing machines.

Their public message: Racing has integrity. Animals are no longer harmed. The sport is now clean.

(footage of a greyhound eating a live rabbit, held and supported by a trainer)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: If racing on the television and at the track involved either a dead or a live animal strapped to the lure, do you think Australians would be supporting that?

AMANDA HILL, FMR STEWARD, GREYHOUND RACING VICTORIA: No. Definitely not.

PAUL McGREEVY, PROF., UNI. OF SYDNEY: A Greyhound is, is chasing to catch, not to kill. There are other breeds that are far more dangerous a-as, as killers. These dogs love racing. They love moving around at speed. They'll be getting off on this.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Paul McGreevy is a professor of animal behaviour and animal welfare science at the University of Sydney.

He's been studying the qualities and characteristics of the greyhound for more than a decade, rating them among the most gentle, placid and cautious of all breeds.

PAUL McGREEVY: As pets they're remarkable. They've been described as the, the, thirty-five kilometre an hour coach potato. They, they are s-so sedentary when they're not exposed to, to these stimuli.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The origins of greyhound racing in Australia date back to the early 1900s.

ANNOUNCER (Movietone News, archive): They've gone to the dogs at Rooty Hill, New South Wales, where the Waterloo Coursing Cup is being contested.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Back then, it was a one-on-one competition, out in a field, without human intervention.

ANNOUNCER (Movietone News, archive): For the hare, its hair-raising; for the dogs, just a question of raising a hare.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: It was called live hare coursing: two dogs chasing a live rabbit. Sometimes it would escape with its life; other times, not.

AMANDA HILL: As times have changed and animal welfare has become a big, big, um, concern, it-it's no longer done, not even overseas.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: In the late 1920s live rabbits were replaced with the mechanical lure, morphing into what it is a today: a soft toy accompanied by a high-pitched squeaking noise, designed to simulate escaping prey.

PAUL McGREEVY: It's supposed to evoke the, um, traditional prey, the traditional target, which are rabbits and hares.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The fate of a greyhound lies in how well it chases the lure as a pup. Getting a dog to chase is the most important part of its training.

AMANDA HILL: Well, the thought is that, you know, if you can entice them, some, some trainers believe you, you can make them angrier, more aggressive; um, that that is a way to improve a dog's racing ability.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: To increase their prey drive?

AMANDA HILL: Exactly.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: And how would one increase the prey drive of a dog?

AMANDA HILL: Um, well, normally would be live baiting.

(footage of greyhound racing promotional video)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: But the sport's regulators are presenting another reality altogether.

This is the industry's modern, public face: glitz, glamour, good times, happy dogs and one key message: animal welfare.

(to Deborah Arnold) In 2015, then, modern-day greyhound racing, what would you say is at the forefront?

DEBORAH ARNOLD: Animal welfare.

HAYLEY COTTON, ANIMAL LIBERATION QLD: I wouldn't believe anything that these people say when it comes to the welfare of their dogs or the welfare of any animal.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Hayley Cotton is an investigator with Animal Liberation Queensland, the organisation responsible for capturing the carnage in the Sunshine State.

It all started with a tip-off about a greyhound training property in Churchable.

HAYLEY COTTON: Their words to me were: "Something really bad is going on there." And they said it "smells like death."

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Whose property was this?

HAYLEY COTTON: This was Tom Noble's property.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Tom Noble: a celebrated, award-winning greyhound trainer with almost 50 years in the game, owner/operator of a popular break-in centre on Wotan Road.

It's a tight, close-knit community, the epicentre of greyhound training in Queensland. The properties here are dotted with bull rings, kennels and training tracks - this one, Tom Noble's.

Cameras were installed around his training track.

(to Hayley Cotton) What was on those tapes? What was recorded?

HAYLEY COTTON: On the tapes was probably the most horrific cruelty that you would ever come across involving dogs and animals.

(footage of piglet squealing on a lure as it is mauled by a greyhound)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Four times a week: first, piglets.

(footage of piglet screaming as it is hoist on a lure by employee)

EMPLOYEE, TOM NOBLE'S PRIVATE TRIAL TRACK: F**k you, mate.

(footage of possum on lure as it accelerates along track)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Next, native possums - this one flung around the track 26 times at high speed. Each lap, one or two dogs are released to chase, grab, maul.

(montage of footage of possum on lure, repeatedly chased and grabbed by dogs)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Fifty-six minutes later, the lure finally stops. The possum has been snapped in half, backwards, attached to the lure only by its spinal cord.

(footage of maimed possum being removed from lure)

EMPLOYEE: This one's still alive, Tom.

TOM NOBLE: Still alive?

EMPLOYEE: Yeah.

EMPLOYEE 2: F**k, it wouldn't have much go in it, mate. It's guts are ripped out.

(Tom Noble laughs off-screen)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Finally: rabbits.

TOM NOBLE: We got f**kin' everything here. We got possums, pigs, f**kin' everything.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Animal Liberation Queensland had captured a live baiting ring in action.

(footage of piglet writhing on lure, squealing)

CUSTOMER: How much I owe you, Tommy? I had two.

TOM NOBLE: How many did you have?

CUSTOMER: Only had two. One with no muzzle on, don't forget, That's extra.

TOM NOBLE: Yeah, one with no muzzle: that was $100. That was $50 there to kill the pig. They're $50 each, them c**ts.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Money is constantly changing hands...

TOM NOBLE: It'll cost you $10 if it's kicking. If it's not kicking, it'll only cost you $5.

CUSTOMER 2: It's crying.

CUSTOMER 3: It's crying. It's lost its baby.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: ...and betting on races is constantly discussed.

CUSTOMER 4: And did you win on the day?

TOM NOBLE: Won a heap.

CUSTOMER 4: Did you? What on?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: He's always winning...

TOM NOBLE: Well, I had $200 on R8 as well. So I won $400 on that bet. Then I won $600 on the other bet.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: So is the inhumane killing and disposing of unwanted dogs, in breach of racing regulations.

JOHN THOMPSON, TRAINER: [Censored]'s got the right idea. He's got one of them big dri- He gets a guy to come in with a big drill and he drills big f**kin' holes in the ground. (inaudible)

TOM NOBLE: Hey? And what's that for?

JOHN THOMPSON: You know, any dead dogs and shit.

TOM NOBLE: Oh, yeah.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The man speaking about dumping dead dogs has a unique voice. I'd heard it before.

(to John Thompson) Some people who are critical of the industry would say, "Oh well, you know, trainers: they just take a dog, take a dog out back and, and shoot it."

JOHN THOMPSON: That's crap. That's absolute crap.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: You're not allowed to do that.

JOHN THOMPSON: Look, you don't do that. That's years ago.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: This is John Thompson, a well-known trainer based in NSW. We met him at Ipswich Racetrack in January.

JOHN THOMPSON: What people have got to realise: it's like anything you do. You've got to come out of the old days into the new days. With the welfare of greyhounds now, your biggest factor is, is that it, it doesn't happen that easy anymore.

(footage of possum being pulled out of a hessian bag at greyhound track)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The man who talks so passionately about leaving the old days behind and stamping out animal cruelty speaks very differently when he's at Tom Noble's track.

TOM NOBLE: It's got a f**king baby, too.

JOHN THOMPSON: Charge twice the amount!

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: John Thompson is recorded here, excitedly telling others to smash a baby possum's head in so the live baiting of its terrified mother can begin.

(footage of possum writhing on lure)

TOM NOBLE: No good now.

JOHN THOMPSON: Hit it on there! You're only buryin' his head in the f**kin' sand. Hit him on here. Hit him right here on that post.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: They're pretty bloody heavy.

HAYLEY COTTON: They rip the baby from the mother. They tie the mother on the lure and they then stick the baby's head in the sand to kill it while the mother is watching on, ah, all the time laughing and joking, um, about how amusing it is.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The sights and sounds of sheer horror, broken only by those enjoying the display.

(footage of employee holding dead piglet by the tail and lowering it onto the track)

EMPLOYEE: It's f**kin' dead.

Yeah. Oh yeah.

(employee lifts piglet corpse's head and shakes it)

EMPLOYEE: You alive? You alive? You alive?

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE 3: And I f**kin', I seen the little one...

UNIDENITIFIED VOICE 4: F**in' laugh it bit you, Tony.

(Employee feigns being bitten by piglet corpse; laughter off-camera)

AMANDA HILL: They're doing it to try and get an edge. Um, it's probably a harder, um, harder to get caught live baiting than what it is to use performance-enhancing drugs. So, um, they sort of go, do go hand in hand but it's an edge that I think you would hope that you're not get caught, you don't get caught doing.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: More than 40 people - owners, trainers, and their handlers - are recorded on camera while live baiting is occurring at Tom Noble's property.

HAYLEY COTTON: These people are, um, leading trainers. They're training their dogs with these methods. Um, they're then going on to win races, um, using these methods.

So the whole integrity of greyhound racing, um, is really brought into question here.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The calibre of those involved is breathtaking: the top echelons of the sport, including the state's biggest name, Reg Kay: three greyhound of the year titles and the 2008 Australian trainer of the year.

While we were in Queensland, we tracked members of the live baiting ring to a race night at Albion Park. We wanted to see for ourselves how well their dogs were performing.

Reg Kay, Tom Noble himself: each of them won or placed that night. The stars of the sport, lauded and rewarded by the regulator, Racing Queensland.

(to Hayley Cotton) Were they failing, then, Racing Queensland: completely failing?

HAYLEY COTTON: They're absolutely failing because this is going on right under their nose.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA (to Lyn White): Was live baiting isolated to Queensland then?

LYN WHITE: Most definitely not.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: At the same time - November 2014 - in Victoria, Animals Australia, led by Lyn White, a former police officer, had just embarked on an investigation of its own.

LYN WHITE: We had recently received information about a trial track at Tooradin in Victoria and that live baiting was potentially occurring there.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The Tooradin Trial Track is located an hour's drive south-east of Melbourne, in the heart of greyhound racing territory; highly sought after by trainers in the area, run by Stuart Mills of the illustrious Mills family.

(footage of 2013 Greyhound Industry Awards, Greyhound Racing Victoria)

MASTER OF CEREMONIES: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the 40th anniversary Victoria Greyhound Industry Awards night.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Pictured here at Victoria's annual awards night, the Mills are industry royalty, patriarch Anthony Mills receiving the lifetime achievement award.

PRESENTER: The winner of the 2013 Ken Carr medal is Anthony Mills.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Surrounded by his family on stage, flanked by his two powerful sons: Andrew Mills, the former deputy chief steward for Greyhound Racing Victoria, now the regulator's chief racing grader for the entire state; and Stuart Mills, a successful trainer and owner/operator of Tooradin, a GRV-approved and licensed trial track.

We met Stuart Mills on a quiet Wednesday afternoon at the Cranbourne Racetrack two weeks ago. He tells us the sport is clean. Live baiting is a thing of the past.

STUART MILLS: Yeah, look, I think the, the live baiting and, and that has certainly been clamped down on in the last five years, um, and it's cleaned right up.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: But the camera tells a different story. It's 6:30am at Tooradin, mid-November 2014.

STUART MILLS: Hiya, Paul.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The first customer of the day has arrived. Stuart Mills attaches the lure. On his track, he uses a wooden plank with leather straps.

He walks into a nearby shed. These images taken inside show cages full of live rabbits; dead ones, rotting, thrown close by; and boxes of syringes.

One minute later Mills reappears, carrying a live rabbit. He stretches it out tightly and buckles it down flat.

Shaking, ears pinned back in fear, the defenceless animal is about to fed alive to the dogs.

(footage of live rabbit on lure; lure accelerates)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: One greyhound, followed by another.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Five minutes later, the lure returns.

(footage of lure stopping by Stuart Mills. A greyhound is biting the rabbit. The dog is pulled away from the rabbit.)

STUART MILLS: That's the first time he's run that quick.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The rabbit: hopeless, dangling, twitching. It's still alive.

(to Lyn White) Was live baiting captured on that, the first time the cameras recorded?

LYN WHITE: It was. It was.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: And the first trainer caught on camera: Paul Anderton, a veteran of the industry.

The day after this was filmed, his dogs went on to win three races.

We've discovered something else about Paul Anderton; something that makes his illegal activities at Tooradin particularly astonishing. He's a former steward for Greyhound Racing Victoria, a policeman of the sport.

(to Lyn White) A former steward of the police of the sport for GRV. What does that say about how far this extends?

LYN WHITE: Well, it tells me that this is a practice that has been going on, on an acceptable level to trainers, for years and years.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Animals Australia was onto something much bigger than ever expected.

To determine the scale of the activity and the people involved, surveillance continued.

A procession of trainers and countless greyhounds, enforced live baiting, in preparation for racing, escalating to a spectator sport with rival trainers and handlers taking time out to watch each other's dogs perform.

All up: 17 captured live baiting on camera.

LYN WHITE: I-I do question: how can you get any pleasure or pride out of winning a race, holding up a trophy, when you know that that winning advantage has been gained by allowing your dog to savage a helpless animal?

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Neville King is one of those winning trainers, a veteran of the sport. He is filmed here live baiting two days before Christmas.

King is a highly influential figure. He's the president of Cranbourne Racing Club.

(footage of Neville King patting and rubbing dog as it bites down on a rabbit attached to a lure)

NEVILLE KING: Hey! Good boy, Tatty! Tatty. Good boy, Tatty.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: On a windy afternoon at Tooradin, the camera, blown off-centre, captures Dennis Dean, an up and coming trainer in Victoria, wearing a check shirt, accompanied by a young girl who stands and watches on as live rabbits are leashed and thrown to the dogs to kill.

We asked the CEO of Greyhounds Australasia, the peak body representing the entire sport, what he thought about such behaviour.

(to Scott Parker) People bring their children to a track to do this.

SCOTT PARKER, CEO, GREYHOUNDS AUSTRALASIA: To do what?

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: To live bait.

SCOTT PARKER: To li-, to see live baiting at a track? Families attend? Well, I think that's, I think that's ridiculous and abhorrent. I don't support that at all and, um, I'm not aware of it. I've never heard of it.

Um, as I say to you: live baiting is illegal as well as being immoral and against the rules of greyhound racing.

(montage of surveillance footage showing live rabbits tied to lures, greyhounds chasing and mauling them; some dogs decapitating rabbits with their teeth)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Meanwhile, countless rabbits savaged, skinned alive, ripped in half: dog after dog encouraged to kill.

(to Amanda Hill) Were you frustrated as a steward at GRV?

AMANDA HILL: Yes. I'm not a "turn-a-blind-eye to things" and that was probably why I didn't fit in.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Amanda Hill is a former steward for Greyhound Racing Victoria.

She says there was a problem inside GRV: live baiting was rumoured to be occurring but it wasn't proactively tackled.

(to Amanda Hill) So the regulator, then, has failed to pick this up?

AMANDA HILL: Yeah, you could say that. Lack of resources, lack of funds, lack of knowledge, um, or plainly don't want to accept that it's a possibility and that it...

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: A lack of desire, a lack of motivation?

AMANDA HILL: Ah, yeah.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Amanda Hill left GRV in 2004 and became the chair of stewards for Greyhound Racing Tasmania, where she was able to be proactive.

In 2008 she caught a female trainer red-handed, live baiting on private property. Hill's case notes document a possum gouged, organs exposed, bound to the lure with blue baling twine.

Nearby, greyhounds covered in blood and scratch marks: the possum's hopeless attempts to defend itself.

AMANDA HILL: I remember standing there thinking, "I cannot believe this." You, you... In the back of your mind you think, "It goes, it may go on", not that it goes on everywhere: it may go on. But to actually be put in that situation: um, yeah, r-really... disbelief.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Strewn in the bushes around the track: the carcasses of countless possums in various stages of decomposition.

(to Amanda Hill) Would you hope that other stewards would be as proactive as you were?

AMANDA HILL: Yes, I would. I would.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Seven years on, Amanda Hill's case remains one of just two in the past decade where a steward has gone after and successfully convicted a live baiter.

(to Amanda Hill) Amanda, this is just a small sample of all the faces that we have captured at Tooradin during live baiting.

We showed Amanda Hill a series of freeze-frames: the faces of people live baiting at Tooradin, Victoria.

AMANDA HILL: Well, Caro, you have caught some of the biggest names in greyhound racing engaging in an unacceptable practice.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Illegal practice?

AMANDA HILL: Illegal practice.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: One face in particular stood out.

AMANDA HILL: I do recognise that person, um, as an extremely prominent person in the industry.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: What: extremely prominent? What do you mean?

AMANDA HILL: Probably one of the leading trainers.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: In Victoria or the country?

AMANDA HILL (coughs): Excuse me. Um, both.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: It's a face that will send shockwaves through the industry: the current king of greyhound racing, Darren McDonald.

RACECALLER (Group 1 Perth Cup, Feb 2014): It's Keybow for Darren McDonald...

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Two-time Australian Greyhound Trainer of the Year; more than $4 million in prize money.

(footage of interview after 2014 Group 1 Perth Cup)

INTERVIEWER: Well, Darren McDonald, how sweet it is?

DARREN McDONALD: Yes, certainly was sweet tonight.

(footage of Golden Easter Egg 25th anniversary)

JEFF COLLERSON, GREYHOUND RACING JOURNALIST: Do you know how many Group 1 races or group races you've won? (mumbles)

DARREN McDONALD: Not really, no. Don't keep count.

JEFF COLLERSON: No.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The soft-spoken trainer has an impeccable record, in the past having trained dogs for some of the country's leading sportsmen.

It's the 18th of November, 2014. Darren McDonald, dressed in a white t-shirt, attends Tooradin, carrying a hessian sack. A tiny, pink piglet is lifted out, tied down, its little legs kicking.

As the mechanical lure starts up, McDonald and handler Chris Connelly appear, two greyhounds straining on leads. As they near the camera, muzzles can be made out on each dog.

After two laps, the muzzles are removed. The piglet can be heard squealing as it's mauled to death off-camera.

Seventy-two hours later, Darren McDonald and his star dogs are at the annual Greyhound Melbourne Cup, the richest night on the racing calendar.

RACECALLER (Group One Bold Trease, Nov 2014): Racing. Sweet It Is came out OK.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Darren McDonald's Sweet It Is, the highest rated stayer in Australia, blitzes the field in race six.

RACECALLER (Group One Bold Trease, Nov 2014): But here she comes, the champ! Sweet It Is, and Sweet It Is does it again!

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: McDonald and handler Chris Connelly photographed celebrating the win: first-place prize money of $100,000.

RACECALLER (Greyhound Melbourne Cup, Nov 2014): Racing. Keybow on the inside...

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: At 9:24pm, Melbourne Cup favourite Keybow springs from the boxes. This is the biggest race of the year: $420,000 for the winner.

RACECALLER (Greyhound Melbourne Cup, Nov 2014): It's Dyna Villa the leader, about three Chica Destacada, then the favourite, Keybow...

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Edged out, Keybow runs third, picking up a respectable $60,000. It's the end of a very good night for Darren McDonald.

LYN WHITE: Ah, Darren McDonald's dogs have won millions of dollars in prize money. So I'm sure that there'll be people without and within the racing industry who will be questioning whether his winning advantage has been gained through illegal and quite horrific live baiting training practices.

RACECALLER: And it's the great Keybow. Keybow streaked away at the end to win by five.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Darren McDonald's Keybow is Victoria's top sprinter.

RACECALLER: And Keybow raced away to win by three and a half.

RACECALLER: Keybow exploded away. Keybow out in front of (inaudible) and she can't. Keybow: brilliant!

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: But we've discovered this exceptional chaser was trained across the border, at Darren McDonald's personal request, by a man working at this property in Londonderry, NSW.

LYN WHITE: It's a property called Wilshire Park that is a breaking-in centre run by a man called Zeke Kadir. And we had received information from someone within the industry that live baiting was occurring as part of his training processes.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Zeke Kadir is rumoured to be the best live baiter in the state.

It's 10am in western Sydney. An undercover investigator is on her way to meet Zeke Kadir at his training facility. Two hours later, she arrives at our secluded meeting place.

(to undercover investigator) How are you?

UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATOR: Good. How are you?

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA (to undercover investigator): I'm OK. I'm going to run through...

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: First, she confirms trainer Darren McDonald's links to Kadir.

(to undercover investigator) Did Zeke Kadir discuss which trainers use him for breaking in?

UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATOR: He mentioned that he has, um, Darren McDonald's dogs broken in at his property.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Zeke Kadir said that to you?

UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATOR: Yes. Yes, he did.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: This morning?

UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATOR: And he mentioned that he broke in Keybow.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: It's the first time she and Zeke Kadir have ever met but she tells us he openly discussed how he breaks in dogs: live baiting, using rabbits.

UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATOR: He talked about how he got live rabbits from a person that he knows and he gets about 30 a week. And he says that he, he said "live rabbits," he bought live rabbits and then he says he puts those rabbits in the bull rings with the dogs when he's breaking them in.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Can you recall his exact words?

UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATOR: Um he said, "I'll put the animal in there with the dog and get them to give them a bite."

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Secret cameras catch Zeke Kadir in the act.

(montage of surveillance footage of dogs mauling rabbits on lures)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The rabbits are tied to a hand-pushed lure controlled by Zeke Kadir, dragged along the ground at speed, pursued by dogs in so-called training.

Just when we thought the cruelty couldn't get any worse - the practices any more barbaric - on the 12th of January, a new trainer arrives at Wilshire Park. He's here for a private session.

A native possum is strung to the lure upside down, terrified, struggling to escape.

Two muzzled greyhounds attempt to bite, again and again. Four minutes later, the muzzles come off: the gruesome final moments unseen, but one last, unforgettable cry.

(sound of possum screaming)

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE 5: He's killed it, anyhow.

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE 6: Yeah.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The trainer seen here, removing the possum's fur and flesh from its mouth, is Ian Morgan.

He's blooding one of his up-and-coming dogs, Cee Cee Quoted.

Four days later, we caught Ian Morgan leaving his western Sydney home with Cee Cee Quoted, bound for an afternoon race meet in Newcastle.

RACECALLER (Race 6, The Gardens, 16 Jan.) In second place over on the inside, Black Diablo, First Aid Kit beat Black Diablo, Cee Cee Quoted. They were followed by...

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Third place: $155, just enough to cover Morgan's petrol bill.

The question is: how widespread could live baiting be?

LYN WHITE: I am fearful, fearful at how widespread this is and the consequences for literally thousands of animals each year.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Just before we went to air, we received evidence of another live baiting ring in NSW, this one run by John Cauchi in Box Hill.

Cauchi does his live baiting by hand.

(footage of Cauchi swinging a live rabbit before a greyhound as it attacks it)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The ramifications of this behaviour, exposed across the country tonight, are unquantifiable: thousands of dead animals, thousands of races, tens of millions of dollars won and wagered.

(to Amanda Hill) But this is something that the regulators cannot just turn away from?

AMANDA HILL: No. Definitely not. Definitely not. They have to be seen as being very proactive and showing that there is zero tolerance.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: But the regulators have chosen to remain silent.

Our repeated requests for an interview with Greyhound Racing NSW, Greyhound Racing Victoria and Racing Queensland - the three states implicated - were all refused.

They all deferred to this man, the CEO of Greyhounds Australasia. He's been in the job less than a year but he has a clear view on live baiting.

(to Scott Parker) Do you think it is a, it, it's a problem?

SCOTT PARKER: I don't suspect it's a s-systemic problem at all. I mean l-live bait use is abhorrent. It's illegal. It's immoral and it's totally rejected by the industry.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: There are three trial tracks around Australia where live baiting is occurring. How on earth has that been allowed to occur?

SCOTT PARKER: Well, it's abhorrent...

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: H-How has that been undetected?

SCOTT PARKER: It's, it's abhorrent.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: I know you've said that. Let's move on from that word. How has that not been detected by the regulators? You've told me there are more than 20 integrity officers out there. How has this not been detected?

SCOTT PARKER: Ah, look, our controlling bodies do a great job but it's a big industry. It's a big industry and a lot of these facilities are a long, long way away from, um, from, um, you know, Sydney and Melbourne and Brisbane, where the controlling bodies are housed. Now it's a diff-

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: What, out of sight, out of mind?

SCOTT PARKER: Well, no. The, the contr-, that's why compliance officers are employed to get out there. But it's not as if these things are happening...

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Well, have they been out there to these three...

SCOTT PARKER: ...in, in the backyard of the controlling bodies.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Have they been to these three properties previously?

SCOTT PARKER: I suspect that they have.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Short of live baiters setting up in the regulators' backyards, one thing is clear: the authorities have spectacularly failed.

It's only an hour's drive from the CBDs of Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney to each of the tracks where live baiting is frequently occurring.

And a small group of investigators, working on a shoestring, managed to quickly discover what the regulators, with their deep pockets, have deemed too hard to find for themselves.

(footage of RSPCA inspectors' meeting)

RSPCA INSPECTOR: We've received information in relation to, er, live animal baiting with greyhounds. We'll be looking, we'll be certainly...

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Two weeks ago, we handed our findings over to the one authority able to launch a criminal investigation: the RSPCA.

Four days ago, simultaneous raids were conducted by the state-based RSPCAs, working with police, in Queensland, Victoria and NSW. We were there for all of them.

(footage of RSPCA inspectors at Tom Noble's training track)

INSPECTOR: So have you ever used pigs? Have you ever been on this property and used pigs in the past?

TOM NOBLE: No, I haven't.

INSPECTOR: Never?

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: In Queensland, the RSPCA were just in time.

(sound of piglet squealing as RSPCA inspector removes it from box)

RSPCA INSPECTOR: I know, I know.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Underneath the engine of Tom Noble's lure, in a box, tied inside a hessian sack: a live piglet moments away from being bound and baited.

On the track, Tom Noble and his staff, James Draws and Tony McCabe, denied any wrongdoing.

But the RSPCA kept looking, eventually finding a second piglet, wounded from a previous day's baiting, hidden inside a shed on Tom Noble's property.

At Tooradin, Stuart Mills was under the microscope but no live animals were found on-site.

Early the next morning, we paid Stuart Mills a visit.

(to Stuart Mills) Caro Meldrum-Hanna from Four Corners. How are you?

STUART MILLS: Yeah, not bad.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA (to Stuart Mills): We're just here to ask you a couple of questions.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: A clearly shaken Stuart Mills maintained his denials.

(to Stuart Mills) Have you been live baiting here, Stuart?

STUART MILLS: No.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Why do you think they were here yesterday?

STUART MILLS: You ask them that.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Did you?

STUART MILLS: Yeah.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: And what did they say?

OFF-SCREEN VOICE: We're not answering any of your questions. We've got work to do.

STUART MILLS: That's...

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Did they find anything here?

OFF-SCREEN VOICE: Tell 'em to leave the property or we'll ring the police.

(Mills walks away)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: That's all? Nothing else?

STUART MILLS: No, no comment.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Stuart Mills didn't answer any more of our questions.

By Friday, one last visit remained: Wilshire Park, Londonderry, NSW. Zeke Kadir's.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: I'm here to talk to you about live baiting.

ZEKE KADIR: Could you just get off my property?

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Will you answer some of our questions?

ZEKE KADIR: Hop off me property and we may discuss something.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: We waited for Kadir to speak to us outside.

(to Zeke Kadir as motorised gates close) You're shutting the gates on us. How long have you been live baiting here for?

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: We didn't get any answers.

Our investigation is now a criminal matter. In each state, charges are imminent. Live baiting attracts a sentence of up to two years' imprisonment.

(to Amanda Hill) The sport has been let down by the very people who are meant to promote and protect it?

AMANDA HILL: Exactly. Exactly.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: And police it?

AMANDA HILL: Exactly.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The question now: will the sport's sponsors and our governments continue to support the industry?

And can the public can have any confidence at all in the sport's integrity?

KERRY O'BRIEN: Incidentally, the people caught up in last week's raids included trainers Zeke Kadir and John Cauchi and the registration of the Tooradin track has been suspended.

Greyhounds Australasia says it has launched an urgent review of the rules at trial tracks across the country. It has also promised that anyone found guilty will receive the harshest penalty possible: that's a life ban.

They will be judged on their actions, not their words.

That's the program for tonight. Next week: the scandal behind the Federal Government's multi-billion dollar employment programs.

Until then, good night.

Background Information

RESPONSES TO FOUR CORNERS

Racing Queensland's response to Four Corners | 13 February 2015

Greyhound Racing Victoria's response to Four Corners | 12 February 2015

Greyhound Racing NSW's response to Four Corners

MORE INFORMATION

Suspended persons unable to be named immediately | Greyhound Racing Victoria | 17 February, 2015

RSPCA: Greyhound reviews must be conducted independently of industry | RSPCA | 17 February, 2015

Shocking evidence of illegal live lure baiting revealed | RSPCA Victoria

Participants Stood Down With Immediate Effect | Greyhound Racing, NSW | 12 February, 2015

Letter from Adam Wallish to Clarify Issues on the Animal Welfare - Penalty Guidelines | Greyhound Racing Victoria

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986 | Victorian Government

Is the use of live baits and lures in greyhound racing and other dog racing illegal? | RSPCA

Own motion investigation into Greyhound Racing Victoria | Victorian Ombudsman

Legislative Council Select Committee on Greyhound Racing in New South Wales

Animal Welfare Guidelines | Greyhound Racing Victoria | 2014

Investigation into the ACT racing industry | Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission | 2011

Report on Own Motion Inquiry into Betting Activities of Racing Officials Employed by the Victorian Racing Industry | Office of the Racing Integrity Commissioner | June 2012

Implementing the recommendations arising from the Review of Integrity Assurance in the Victorian Racing Industry

Animal welfare act review report and recommendations | Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries | 2013

Queensland Animal Care and Protection Act 2001

Victorian Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986

Greyhound Racing Information | Animals Australia

MEDIA

Greyhound industry whistleblowers 'intimidated, threatened and ignored' | Sydney Morning Herald | 17 February 2015

Greyhound live baiting: Former top official Bob Smith identified in footage aired by Four Corners | ABC News | 18 February, 2015

Greyhound racing gone to the dogs: Live bait scandal could see industry suspended | News.com.au | 17 February 2015

Barnaby Joyce criticises activists in greyhound live-bait expose | The Australian | 17 February, 2015

Live baiting: Mike Baird vows 'absolute zero tolerance' for greyhound industry abuse | Stock Journal | 17 February, 2015

Greyhound racing: Victorian Integrity Commissioner says Four Corners live baiting revelations a shock | ABC News | 17 February 2015

Time for a Fresh Start | Australian Racing Greyhound | 17 February, 2015 http://www.australianracinggreyhound.com/australian-greyhound-racing/administration/time-for-a-fresh-start-arg-responds-to-live-baiting-crisis/61391

Greyhound racing: Victorian Government announces two separate investigations into live baiting in wake of Four Corners revelations | ABC News | 17 February, 2015

Greyhound racing: Piglets, possums and rabbits used as live bait in secret training sessions, Four Corners reveals | ABC News | 16 February, 2015

Fallout spreads as industry braces for Four Corners probe | Australian Racing Greyhound | 16 February, 2015

Stewards query Kay; some finish-on-lure trials put on hold | Australian Racing Greyhound | 16 February, 2015

Greyhound racing: Live baiting revelations on Four Corners to be 'extremely damaging' to industry | ABC News | 16 February, 2015

Live animals allegedly used as bait in greyhound racing | Sydney Morning Herald | 15 February, 2015

Queensland sets up taskforce as greyhound racing hit with cruelty claims | Courier Mail | 15 February, 2015

Tooradin track closed after claims greyhound trainers used live bait | Geelong Advertiser | 15 February, 2015

Victorian greyhound racing authorities suspend 10 people for allegedly using live rabbits as lures | ABC News | 14 February, 2015

Queensland legend Reg Kay denies involvement in live-baiting raid | Australian Racing Greyhound | 14 February, 2015

Greyhound owners, trainers suspended | Sydney Morning Herald | 14 February, 2015

Greyhound racing industry hounded by claims of abuse | Illawarra Mercury | 1 August, 2014

Greyhound racing industry 'dodged a bullet' | Sydney Morning Herald | 30 March, 2014

Greyhound inquiry by NSW Parliament: committee member and Greens MP John Kaye critical of welfare inaction | ABC News | 28 March, 2014

Logan to get new greyhound racing track, at expense of Gold Coast | Brisbane Times | 16 March, 2014

NSW greyhounds boss rejects claims of cronyism, bullying | Sydney Morning Herald | 9 February, 2014

Vets claim live animals used as bait to train greyhounds | Sydney Morning Herald | 24 November, 2013

Greyhound racing industry denies claims of widespread animal doping | ABC News | 16 October, 2013

Greyhound racing industry hit with doping, cruelty, collusion allegations | 7.30 | 16 October, 2013

The unbearable lightness of being a greyhound | The Conversation | 2 December, 2012

The quick and the dead | Background Briefing | 11 November, 2012

Allegations of doping in greyhound racing industry | 9 November 2012

Hounded to death | Sydney Morning Herald | 25 October, 2004