Dogs have their day with Dapto closure

The courage of the Dapto Agricultural and Horticultural Society should not be understated for their part in the closure of Dapto Dogs after 88 years of racing (“Last lap at Dapto: A community gets ready to farewell a local icon”, June 1). Dapto track has long been recognised as one of the most dangerous in NSW, with dog deaths and hundreds injured over the decades, many of which needed to “put down” afterwards. The Agricultural Society recognised that the dog races did not align with the area’s long-term goals. For the benefit of the dogs, the closure is a positive one. Let us hope that other local dog tracks, such as Bulli, which also suffers from poor viewing attendance numbers, can follow suit and place the dangerous industry in the past where it belongs. Janice Creenaune, Austinmer

The feature about the end of the Dapto Dogs tells only part of the story. The night the journalist was in attendance a young greyhound fell and fractured her foreleg. She was only 17 months old. Several greyhounds have been killed racing at Dapto in recent years and hundreds seriously injured. Watching dogs fall, break limbs and lie helpless on the track in agony is no laughing matter, nor should this industry be described as “iconic”. It is a wagering industry. Perhaps the journalist should visit one of the several independent greyhound rescues around Sydney to see the reality of the racing industry as hundreds of unprofitable, injured, too slow and discarded greyhounds wait for homes. The sooner this odious dog-killing industry is shut down, the better. Michele Nicholas, St Ives

The coverage of the closure of the Dapto Dogs greyhound racetrack sentimentalised an unpopular, dying industry. Your reporter characterised the participants as nice old codgers who turn their surplus slow dogs into household pets – a mathematical impossibility given rampant overbreeding. There was no referencing of the never-ending scandals surrounding a cruel, anachronistic activity which maims, injures and kills thousands of dogs every year. Forced to race in packs at up to 70km/h, these light-boned animals bunch up and collide, breaking necks and legs with alarming regularity. No less an authority than the former chief vet of Greyhound Racing NSW is on the record as describing the “sport” as a “morass of exploitation and suffering” Our communities are awash in opportunities for gambling and entertainment. We don’t need to do this any more, and we shouldn’t. Shamefully, while other countries move to ban dog racing, Australia remains an outlier as the global centre of dog racing, with more than half of the world’s remaining greyhound tracks. Deborah Fleming, Kingston (Tas)

Uncomfortable truth

Your correspondent (Letters, June 1) certainly sounds rabid to me, acting so offended and comparing Chris Masters’ truthful words to Roberts-Smith’s execution of innocent farmers, as found by two courts and four judges as having occurred on the balance of probabilities. Masters and Nick McKenzie have been put through years of stressful legal accusations and their reputations and careers put at risk for investigating and reporting important and serious war crimes committed on our behalf. They are heroes. It’s understandable and reasonable that they’d be peeved at the multiple people found to have lied in an appalling attempt to protect a war criminal, severely damaging Australia’s reputation and putting all our soldiers at risk in any future engagements. Richard Abram, Bexley

Bad medicine

Peter FitzSimons (“Five minutes with Fitz”, June 1) trots out the tiresome drug legalisation argument, ie: People are going to keep taking drugs regardless, therefore the laws haven’t worked, so let’s legalise it and treat it as a health issue and tax it. Following that logic, we should legalise violence against women, rape and murder. The law has clearly failed in this regard too. Paul Davies, Crows Nest

Toll of the bells

Father Peter Smith of St Augustine’s Catholic Church in Balmain (“Hell’s bells as church tries to ring in changes”, June 1) says without a hint of irony that objections to his proposal to increase the number of bells in the church’s tower from one to eight, while also increasing the frequency and length of tolling, “have no science about them”. This from a man who works for an organisation that has been rejecting science for centuries, and continues to do so. Say no more. Stephen Healion, Wang Wauk

Having just travelled to Morocco, I found the Hell’s Bells article disturbing. Morocco has 55,000 mosques calling people to prayer five times a day from 4.45am until 9.45pm. Even as a visitor you get used to it as it is part of normal daily life. The simple rule to apply in Balmain is, don’t buy a house near a pub or a church and then want everyone else to stop disturbing what you think is your peace. This has been a predominantly Christian country for centuries. The church has rung its bells since it was established. Just live with the bell ringing or find yourself a peaceful haunt somewhere else. Brian Barrett, Padstow

To have more bells in their belfry doesn’t seem a big ask to me, and would surely be better than leaving it to the local bats. Meredith Williams, Baulkham Hills

By the numbers

Parnell Palme McGuinness (“Reverse-engineering path to victory”, June 1) neglects to mention one of the key reasons that the Liberals won back Goldstein was the redistribution that removed a number of booths that voted teal in 2023, and the addition of a number which were strongly Liberal leaning. Michael Chapman, East Albury

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