CPR Statement on Racehorse Welfare in Tasmania

On 8 August 2024 CPR was invited to brief the Tasmanian Legislative Council members on amendments needed on the proposed Racing Integrity and Regulation Bill. Read our statement here:

STATEMENT FROM THE COALITION FOR THE PROTECTION OF RACEHORSES

Re the Racing Integrity and Regulation Bill 2024

Firstly, I’d like to say for the record that it is beyond comprehension how an Integrity Bill can even suggest reducing transparency into the industry such as this one is. I must take the opportunity to make clear how grave the need is for improving – not impeding – integrity and thereby transparency into the welfare of the animals in the Tasmanian racing industry.

For horses in particular, every single year there are more than 300 thoroughbred racehorses leaving the industry in Tasmania plus an unknown number of standardbreds – and no transparency into where any of these horses end up. At a bare minimum, the public need to know:

• How many horses are retired into genuine, safe homes? 
• How many horses are sold for slaughter? 
• How many horses are “euthanized” privately out of the public eye, and who authorizes that these horses can be killed and for what reasons?

CPR is urging the Legislative Council members to please consider this when you go in to debate this Bill concerning integrity in the racing industry.

We’d also like to remind Tasracing, that you are not an isolated empire, but a part of the Australian racing industry. The current ongoing inquiries in NSW regarding the management of Thoroughbred and Greyhound racing, are likely to have flow-on effects in Tasmania. So now is your chance to be a step ahead.

My main objective today, however, is to present recommendations for the minimum horse welfare standards that are to be formed by the Racing Integrity Commissioner and replace the current guidelines. While we most certainly agree it is imperative to make regulated standards for horse welfare, it is even more important that we get them right, if we are to effectively prevent scenarios as we have seen at Mr Ben Yole’s place.

Now, as Tasracing claims animal welfare is a top priority, I’m sure we will all agree on this objective. That said, I’d like to stress to the Legislative Council that Tasracing has an inherent conflict of interest when it comes to looking after both the interest of the racing industry as well as the welfare of the horses. Therefore, if this Bill is to improve the integrity of the Tasmanian racing industry, it is crucial that all welfare matters are overseen by an independent body and that the minimum welfare standards are agreed upon not only by Tasracing, but also by an appropriate selection of horse welfare experts that has no vested interest in the racing industry.

As for informing the new minimum standards for horse welfare, I’d like to remind Tasracing and inform the Legislative Council, that Tasracing under Racing Australia, is a member of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities, IFHA.

The IFHA requires their members to refer to their guidelines to, quote, “establish accepted horse welfare practices in their jurisdiction, and to inform minimum standards of participant behaviour, and drive behavioural change where necessary.” 

The IFHA guidelines are based on the most updated and internationally agreed on animal welfare assessment framework, which is called the 2020 Five Domains Model. According to this model, horse welfare must be assessed from the perspective of the horse, and not from what may be most convenient for their owners or trainers.

The IFHA also requires all who handles horses to be sufficiently educated to assess how the horses are doing. Luckily, the University of New England has developed an online course that teaches people how to practically apply the Five Domains model to their welfare assessments of horses.

To sum up, we strongly recommend that the Racing Integrity and Regulation Bill is amended to include the following three conditions on setting horse welfare standards:

1. Recognize Tasracing’s conflict of interest and mitigate this by appointing independent horse welfare experts to the panel that is to agree on the minimum standards and have an independent body oversee and provide transparency into all matters relating to horse welfare in racing.
2. Base all minimum standards for horse welfare on the IFHA guidelines and the 2020 Five Domains Model for welfare assessment.
3. Require all relevant industry members such as horse handlers, jockeys, and trainers to be educated to assess the welfare of the horses according to the 2020 Five Domains Model.

Thank you for remembering whose lives are depending on what you decide and debate today – the dogs and horses born into the racing industry.

Helle Erhardsen
General Manager
Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses

Find the IFHA guidelines here:
https://ifhaonline.org/resources/IFHA_Minimum_Welfare_Guidelines.PDF

Find the 2020 Five Domains Model here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344638721_The_2020_Five_Domains_Model_Including_Human-Animal_Interactions_in_Assessments_of_Animal_Welfare

Learn to apply the 2020 Five Domains Model for horse welfare assessment in practice: https://www.openlearning.com/une/courses/une-equine-course/?cl=1