Of the 37 people charged by a joint QPS/RSPCA task force in the months after Four Corners revealed shocking footage at least four have had their charges dropped. The vast majority were yet to finish the court process while a handful had been fined. Even Tom Noble, whose Churchable property played host to several live baiting trainers, avoided jail time on 15 counts of serious animal cruelty for strapping or helping to strap possums, piglets and rabbits to a lure arm for dogs to chase. A judge labelled the 69-year-old trainer's behaviour "abhorrent" but let him walk away with a three-year suspended sentence, which the Director of Public Prosecutions will appeal next month. As kennel inspections increased by a power of 10, a dozen trainers were caught committing serious welfare breaches in the past month but there hadn't been any more criminal charges.

Even so, QRIC commissioner Ross Barnett refused to rule out the possibility live baiting was continuing, admitting stamping it out would be harder than ever. "I think it would be naive to give categorical assurances that live baiting could not be going on still," he said. "But what I am sure is that the exposure that Four Corners gave to the program has meant that anybody who may be inclined to engage in that sort of activity is going to be more covert and more careful than was the case pre-Four Corners, which makes them more difficult to detect." Animal rights activists, some of whom helped expose live baiting in the first place, said that wasn't good enough and called again for the industry to be shut down. Here is the good, bad and indifferent of what has changed in the past two years.

Racing dog deaths Despite dramatic changes in many parts of the industry, racing itself can still a dangerous sport for the animals. In 2016, 67 greyhounds had to be put down trackside as a result of racing injuries a significant increase on the years before the commission. "I think you've always got to think about those numbers in terms of the number of animals who race every week across the year so we get a rate of Injuries and deaths per thousand runners to give it some context," Mr Barnett said.

"I think we're racing greyhounds about four days a week so you think of the number of racers, the number of runners, you've just got to put that in context." In his report, Mr MacSporran noted a practisce of declaring a dog suspended for three months rather than euthanised but a QRIC spokeswoman said the organisation could now completely track the animals. In total, QRIC said 285 dogs died or were put down in the seven months since it was established, stressing owners had the right to have any dog humanely put down. That works out to about 40 a month.

Adoption Of all the changes made since the MacSporran Report was handed down, this is one of the most dramatic. When the industry was first put under the microscope, the Greyhound Adoption Program was found to be wholly inadequate. It could rehome about 100 dogs a year, just a small fraction of the retired dogs in an industry breeding more than 2000 pups in Queensland alone. According to the QRIC, about 172 dogs were adopted in the six months after the commission was established in July last year, compared to 230 in the whole previous year.

"So we're on track to have a significantly better outcome in our first year of operation than was previously the case," Commissioner Ross Barnett said. "So all our efforts to get dogs rehomed, get more of them rehomed, is paying off." GAP coordinator Gail Lane said the facilities in Brisbane and Townsville, which had enjoyed a roughly $50,000 funding injection, were up to the demand. But she admitted trainers faced a four-to-six month wait in Brisbane and three months in Townsville. But Animal Welfare League Queensland president Sue Spencer, whose program had adopted 42 greyhounds in the past six months, said the industry measures weren't enough.

"I don't think anything's really changed. The trainers are being prosecuted but they're let off fairly lightly," she said. Breeding and animal tracking The MacSporran report condemned rampant over breeding within the industry and raised serious concerns about Racing Queensland's ability to track the dogs born. Dogs were meant to be tracked as they retired but only 1500 forms had been lodged in 2013 and 2014 and the report found the true number would have been closer to 8500.

One of the key recommendations was the updating and publicising of a database tracking animals from birth to death to give a proper indication of how many dogs were being killed. Mr Barnett said public availability of the data and individual logbooks wouldn't be ready until at least mid-year but QRIC assured Fairfax Media birth-to-death tracking was finally possible, just not yet public. In the years previous, 2000 greyhounds a year were being born into the industry and the 30 per cent of pups never named or registered to race were termed "wastage". A QRIC spokeswoman said just 350 greyhounds were whelped in the 7 months after it was established, extrapolating out to about 600 a year.

Oversight

Queensland Greyhound Racing Industry Commission of Inquiry head Alan MacSporran was particularly critical of the level of the "woefully inadequate" oversight trainers faced before the revelations. Noble's illicit private track for instance, had been operating since 2007, according to court documents. He said the handful of kennel inspections, as low as 31 in 2014 for 750 trainers across the state, must have been a "green light" to live bait with impunity. On that front, the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission has made some progress, roughly doubling the average number of inspections completed in its first six months of operation to between 80 and 90. A dozen trainers were reprimanded for serious welfare breaches, including heatstroke, no access to water, barking muzzles and lack of shelter but few of these resulted in punishments of more than a $200 fine.

No extra live baiting charges have been laid. "An outbreak or a repeat of live baiting on any sort of a scale will surely threaten the viability of the code going forward," Mr Barnett said. "I'm sure the people inside that who love it don't want it to occur. "So we hope that if it's going on, people will come forward with that information." Tom Noble walks out of the Ipswich District Court after his sentencing hearing for 15 counts of serious animal cruelty stemming from the greyhound live baiting scandal was adjourned. Credit:Jorge Branco

Punishment After months of investigation and hours of interviews with Racing Queensland and police, 37 trainers were charged with 141 offences relating to the scandal. Tom Noble was given a three-year suspended sentence for his role, which is being appealed by the DPP. Of the remaining trainers, at least four have had their charges dismissed while a few others Fairfax Media can reveal he was trialing dogs at his unapproved private track as far back as 2007, according to court documents.

Of the 22 trainers banned for life, 13 had their bans rapidly cut to 10 years or less. A few, such as Tracey Kunde, who claimed he and his friends had been made scapegoats, were completely overturned and cleared to race again. Questions remained over the admissibility of the hidden camera footage recorded by Animal Liberation Queensland activists on Noble's property. One judge ruled it in while another ruled it out. Two Queensland tribunal members knocked back attempts to have it declared inadmissible but one declared the critical audio recordings couldn't be relied upon. ALQ president Chay Neal said reforms weren't moving quickly enough.

"Ultimately we're still pushing for a ban on the industry," he said. "We don't think it's an industry that can ever be up to public expectations again but certainly in the meantime, as long as it does continue there needs to be more scrutiny."