The ACT's greyhound trainers and breeders won't rehome dogs using government or contractor services funded to find them new owners when a ban on racing begins, the Canberra Greyhound Racing Club says.
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A package of measures aiming to help greyhounds into new homes after the shutdown would be obsolete because ACT-based dogs will continue racing in NSW, it said on Sunday.
Spokesman Kel Watt said trainers and breeders would not engage with animal welfare groups contracted to rehome greyhounds after campaigning to ban racing in Canberra.
"These people are directly or indirectly responsible for the stripping away of over 50 jobs," he said.
In an independent report, consultant Mary Durkin floated several measures to find new owners for any greyhounds belonging to breeders and trainers hurt by the racing shutdown, but said numbers were not expected to be high.
Mr Watt said the rate of greyhounds needing new homes would not climb and that the industry would continue rehoming them privately and through the Canberra Region Greyhound Connection Group, which it funds.
Attorney-general Gordon Ramsay said Transport Canberra and City Service would join with animal welfare groups to manage rehoming of greyhounds, and would work out details of the program.
The Durkin report handed to the ACT government last month said while most of Canberra's greyhounds were expected to be transferred to continue racing interstate, some trainers and breeders may surrender their dogs if they couldn't see them race at their local track.
"The costs of boarding dogs in another jurisdiction may also be prohibitive for some participants," it said.
It suggested government funding for adoption costs to encourage rehoming, and payment of costs for foster carers looking after greyhounds, and rehoming and support groups.
Canberra Region Greyhound Connection Group coordinator Martina Taliano said the ban was disappointing and there had been no animal welfare issues in the ACT industry.
Any efforts to rehome dogs needed to include trainers who knew their dogs' background and could help greyhounds find a suitable match in a new owner, she said.
Mr Ramsay vowed last week to outlaw the sport by the end of June 2018, and on Sunday said it was "impossible" to separate the local greyhound industry from its controversial NSW counterpart.
"The prospect of these behaviours coming into the ACT, and the ongoing risk of regulatory failure in NSW, presents a risk that most Canberrans find unacceptable," he said.
The government is expected to reveal more about the transitional assistance package before the end of July.
- With Kimberley Le Lievre
