The federal government permitted the export of 590 greyhounds to Macau in the two years after the country was blacklisted by the racing industry over high death rates and poor welfare standards.

Leaked documents, released by Greens MP Mehreen Faruqi, have shone further light on the details of live greyhound exports approved by federal authorities.

A list of greyhound export permits shows that between the start of 2013 and the end of 2015, about 941 greyhounds were approved for export to Macau, China or Hong Kong. Macau and China are notorious for their abysmal treatment of greyhounds, while the Greens say Hong Kong is a known transit point.

The documents for the first time show the significant involvement of pet transport companies in the export trade. One company, JetPets, helped send 150 dogs to Macau, 27 dogs to China, and 104 dogs to Hong Kong during that time.

The document was released as animal rights protesters met at New South Wales parliament to mark the one-year anniversary of former premier Mike Baird’s backflip on the industry ban. The rally included speeches from Faruqi, Humane Society International, Animal Liberation and greyhound rescue groups, which spoke about continued deaths, drugging and export scandals.

The exports to Macau were at odds with the approach taken by the national greyhound racing body, Greyhounds Australasia, which uses a passport system to control the shipping of greyhounds abroad.



In 2013, Greyhounds Australasia blacklisted Macau and refused to issue passports for export, after inspections revealed significant welfare concerns. Macau is home to the notorious canidrome, a greyhound racetrack with a high death rate and poor animal welfare record. Animal rights activists say sending a greyhound to the canidrome effectively signs its death warrant.

Export rackets operating in Australia have, however, turned profits on buying up unwanted racing dogs in Australia and on-selling them to Macau to continue racing.

But the issue sits outside the remit of the department of agriculture, which is responsible for issuing permits for greyhound exports. The department says it is only able to assess whether the animals meet the requirements of the importing country, as per the the Export Control (Animals) Order 2004.

What happens after the export cannot be considered by the department.

“Once exported dogs reach their destination, they come under the jurisdiction of the importing country,” a departmental spokeswoman said.



The loophole is one of significant frustration for Greyhounds Australasia. It has spent years lobbying the federal government to make it a requirement that greyhounds hold a passport before they are allowed to be shipped abroad.

It initially focused its lobbying efforts on Barnaby Joyce, who agreed with the idea in-principle, but couldn’t get state ministers to agree. Greyhounds Australasia boss, Scott Parker, said the lobbying efforts had become a “bureaucratic mess”. Parker said enormous effort went into ensuring that passports were only issued to countries with good welfare standards.

“We did that work, and all the regulators around Australia were and remain very comfortable that when GA issues a passport to any other country, it’s because we have good advice that the destination is suitable from a welfare perspective,” Parker told Guardian Australia.

“And the government ought to respect that work and that advice by stopping any export that didn’t show evidence of the industry support, because they didn’t have a passport issued to them.”

“Given that the legislation and regulations don’t allow that to happen, the industry remains exposed. From that perspective, yes, it’s been a long-term lobbying effort and frustrating that we haven’t gotten to where we wanted to be, and where the public, I’m sure, wants this issue to be.”

The departmental spokeswoman said exports had now been significantly curtailed. Zero exports to China have taken place in 2017-18, she said. Exports to Macau are now also a fraction of what they once were, largely because the canidrome is soon due to close.



The department also revealed that it took a proposal to states and territories to legislate to recognise the greyhounds passport scheme, which would have then made the passports a requirement under federal law.

But the states and territories failed to support the proposal.

Faruqi wrote to pet transport companies late last year, including JetPets, asking that they stop exporting greyhounds.

She said she received no response. It is understood that JetPets has since stopped exporting greyhounds to Macau and other nations with poor animal welfare standards. The company did not respond to a request for comment.



“I think many people would be shocked and disgusted to learn that these companies that claim to care about animals made money out of sending dogs to near certain death in China and Macau,” Faruqi said.

“Exporting dogs to Macau where they are literally raced to death is absolute blood money and trading in misery. I really wonder whether these companies care about animals at all.”