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Media Release 30/11/2023

Drone footage exposes “racing royalty.”

Drone footage release from property of greyhound racing Hall of Famer Barry Heawood

Animal Liberation Tasmania (ALT) has today released drone footage from a fourth greyhound property, making this the fifth investigation into the ​greyhound racing industry.

Barry Heawood (Teatree) is greyhound racing royalty, having been involved in training, breeding, and bookmaking for decades. He was inducted into ​the Hall of Fame in 2020. A search of greyhound lists show that Heawood has been involved in the breeding of hundreds upon hundreds of ​greyhounds over the years; a third of the pups he bred never received a racing name.

Drone footage provided to ALT from mid-November this year shows that Heawood’s property differs very little to those shown at the Bullock, Johnson, ​and Nichols & Nash properties. Tin sheds with sparse bedding. Greyhounds with poor coat condition aka. “kennel coat.” A rubbish pile near the ​bullring on the property was filled with the refuse of slaughtered horses, with numerous legs, tails, rotting guts and hides, as well as those of sheep.

In addition to his breeding program for greyhounds, it appears Heawood may be involved in the breeding of other dogs including French Bulldogs (or ​allowing someone to utilise his property to do so. This breed is renowned for health problems caused by breeding for brachycephalic faces, as well as ​birthing issues due to large heads and narrow bodies. In early 2022 Norwegian courts ruled to ban the breeding of certain brachycephalic breeds, due ​to the health concerns constituting animal cruelty. The bulldogs at Heawood’s property are kept in small runs, with plastic kennels and old straw for ​bedding.

An industry informant has told ALT that Heawood kennels dogs fro other owners, including Trevor Cutriss the former owner of notorious ZooDoo Zoo, ​a place which has come under cregular criticism for the conditions it has historically kept animals in, and their breeding program of white lions for ​the captive bred market and public encounters.

“What we see at the Heawood property is the embodiment of the speciesist ideology that says animal lives and bodies are for humans to use at will. ​Whether greyhounds, or bulldogs, or the exploited horses slaughtered to feed exploited dogs, the human domination of other animals is laid bare here ​to see.” -Kristy Alger, ALT spokesperson

“We also see, yet again, the conditions this industry advocates as being acceptable for these dogs to exist in.” -Kristy Alger, ALT spokesperson

“Anthony Bullock was described in Heawood’s Hall of Fame listing as a ‘racing elite.’ And he’s now banned for life, subject to an appeal to be heard ​on 6th December this year. Greyhound racing royalty is being shown time and again for who they truly are.” -ALT spokesperson

The footage has been released to the media and also the RSPCA.

WATCH THE FOOTAGE HERE