By Greyhounds Australasia CEO Cherie Nicholl

As an industry we are constantly looking at ways to enhance our processes to enable best practice and the optimum experience for the greyhounds, participants, and stakeholders.

Greyhounds Australasia (GA) and its member bodies are committed to minimising the negative animal welfare, emotional and economic impacts of reportable diseases, which have been identified based on several characteristics including the potential speed of transmission, difficultly in eradication or control, economic impact, and level of morbidity and mortality.

By developing  and adhering to strict protocol and procedures to reduce the spread of infectious diseases which could impact our entire industry, we continue to strive and improve for world’s best practice for the wellbeing of our industry.

Following the outbreak of canine gastro early this year, the Greyhounds Australasia Vets and Analysts Sub Committee, chaired by Dr Steven Karamatic have been preparing management strategies which aim to further reduce the risk of a reportable disease outbreak occurring, and also active management strategies which aim to respond to any reportable disease outbreak.

This plan created over recent months with deep consultation across the subject matter experts, details actions to be taken at a national, state, regional and participant level to minimise the outbreak footprint. In addition, the plan includes a suite of strategies to mitigate the risk of an outbreak, many of which are simple common-sense measures that are likely already in practice.

It is important that we have documented processes to keep us and the dogs well and safe. The Controlling Bodies will be sharing these plans early in the new year.

On another subject, GA has been looking at our systems and processes specifically regarding how we manage our participant services and it quickly became evident that there are some efficiencies that we can work toward.

Early next year we will be a launching a new improved Greyhounds Australasia website. We will be digitising all the forms so you will no longer have to print them out and send them in via post. We will also be updating our payment methods so that you can pay electronically through the website.

If you do prefer to print out forms and post them with cheques and money orders the forms will still be there for you to do so.

The new website will make all the information you need to understand the naming, DNA and frozen semen processes and rules as easy to find and understand as possible, as well as any other information we can think of that may be useful.

We are also creating a survey which will be sent to all participants for whom we have an email address as we’d like to know how we can further improve and make the website as well as GA’s participant services the best customer service experience possible.

Finally, in an earlier column I advised that the controlling bodies were about to start the consultation process on the GA Rules Rework. This was halted in August due to Covid19 and we are currently working through timings to restart this work. It is likely that we will recommence this project in the new year.

Until December, keep well and safe!