{"id":854495,"date":"2026-08-14T03:00:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T03:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/854495\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T03:00:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T03:00:24","slug":"greyhound-injured-in-launceston-as-tasracing-wipes-footage-of-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/854495\/","title":{"rendered":"Greyhound injured in Launceston as Tasracing wipes footage of incident"},"content":{"rendered":"

A greyhound suffered a fall and was injured during racing at Launceston last night, prompting renewed calls from animal welfare advocates to end the sport in Tasmania.<\/p>\n

The first race of the evening on Thursday had to be abandoned after a greyhound fell during the 515-metre event.<\/p>\n

Live footage of the incident was broadcast by Tasracing, but the state-owned company wiped the replay video from its platforms immediately after the race.<\/p>\n

However a copy of the footage was obtained by Pulse, which showed the greyhound rolling over at high speed as the other dogs continued on.<\/p>\n

\"\"The first race of Thursday evening was abandoned after the incident. Image \/ Tasracing broadcast<\/p>\n

Broadcast commentary captured the moment the fall occurred, with the caller saying greyhound Rojo Coco had \u201cfound some trouble and is out of play\u201d.<\/p>\n

The commentator continued calling as the other dogs raced on for 17 seconds until the race was cancelled.<\/p>\n

\"\"Greyhound Rojo Coco fell during the 515-metre race at Launceston. Image \/ Tasracing broadcast<\/p>\n

\u201cThe race has been called off here, so a no-race has been called here after race number one,\u201d the commentator said.<\/p>\n

A Tasracing spokesperson said media reports that Rojo Coco suffered a serious injury were \u201cfalse and misleading.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said the greyhound did fall during the race, resulting in a small graze and a minor nosebleed and was attended to immediately by the on-track veterinarian.<\/p>\n

Tasracing said it had spoken to the trainer today and viewed footage of Rojo Coco playing happily in his outdoor enclosure.<\/p>\n

\"\"Greyhound Rojo Coco fell during the 515-metre race at Launceston. Image \/ Tasracing broadcast<\/p>\n

Welfare Alliance for Greyhounds Tasmania spokesperson Anne Boxhall said the incident added to a growing toll on Tasmanian tracks.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore tonight there had already been 19 deaths or serious injuries on Tasmania\u2019s greyhound racing tracks this year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaunceston is now Tasmania\u2019s \u2018track of death\u2019 with more fatalities and serious incidents recorded here than anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur community leaders need to do the right thing, support a sensible phase-out of the industry and join with us in saying enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Greyhound Rojo Coco fell during the 515-metre race at Launceston. Image \/ Tasracing broadcast<\/p>\n

The incident comes as debate over the future of greyhound racing in Tasmania intensifies.<\/p>\n

Treasury recently told a parliamentary committee that the economic impact of ending the industry would be \u201cmanageable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Racing Minister Roger Jaensch has said the sport \u201cis inherently risky and dangerous to the wellbeing and the lives of the animals involved\u201d, while Labor continue to oppose the ban.<\/p>\n

Labor leader Josh Willie, speaking at a press conference in northern Tasmania today after last night\u2019s incident, said his party\u2019s position had not changed.<\/p>\n

\"\"Labor leader Josh Willie says its party is committed to backing greyhound racing in Tasmania. Image \/ Pulse<\/p>\n

\u201cWe support the three codes of racing, just like the Labor Party does in every other state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Premier Rockliff who changed his position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willie said animal welfare was important and there needed to be \u201ccontinuous improvement\u201d but accused the premier of politicising the industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou had the leader of our state making written commitments to people, to industries, to people\u2019s livelihoods and then he changed his position after the election to retain power because he thought his job was more important than other people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Asked whether 19 deaths or serious injuries was an acceptable standard, Willie said the responsibility sat with the government.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Premier Rockliff wants to shut down the industry after he promised not to at the last election, he needs to convince the upper house,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have two of fourteen votes. The Labor Party isn\u2019t blocking anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s phase-out bill was pulled from the upper house in April after it failed to secure enough support, with a June 30, 2029 deadline for an orderly transition still the target.<\/p>\n

Tasracing has said it is working to strengthen welfare standards, releasing a draft Code of Practice for Racing Greyhound Welfare in May.<\/p>\n

Breeding data shows 164 greyhound pups were born in the 2025-26 financial year, up from 155 the year before despite the looming end to the industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A greyhound suffered a fall and was injured during racing at Launceston last night, prompting renewed calls from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":854496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-854495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}