According to the Inquiry, the officials of Greyhound racing NSW have refused to submit information of individual involved in live baiting to RSPCA due to privacy concerns.

The stewards of greyhound racing were told to “downplay” greyhound injuries and deaths to avoid negative publicity, the inquiry into the greyhound racing industry heard.

The special commission in charge of greyhound racing was told that the diary, which contained “valuable information”, was taken during a raid in February, 2015 on an anonymous trainer who was suspected of using live animals to train greyhounds in his property in Sydney.

David O’Shannessy, who is RSPCA’s chief inspector, told the commission of inquiry on Thursday that the society had asked Greyhound racing NSW to pinpoint the people in the diary that had a list of Christina names alongside telephone numbers.

David said the racing organization was not going to assist in the case unless they received a formal notice that prompt them to release the information.

On the other hand, RSPCA did not think it was necessary in the circumstances and did not want to be seen doing anything that will jeopardize any awaiting court cases.

The special commission was setup following last year’s scandal on live baiting that forced the industry to shake up.

The former CEO of Greyhound racing NSW, Brent Hogan alongside other board members had to step down from their positions after the scandal broke.

The inquiry was told that the stewards of greyhound racing were told to “cease” from offering too much information regarding injuries and deaths of greyhounds, because the industry was going to be affected by negative publicity.

The chief inspector of RSPCA said they had received a number of complaints within a year regarding greyhounds but the number rose to 100 in 2015 after the exposure of live baiting. With regards to that, the CEO of greyhound was recalled to provide evidence to the inquiry.

Brent Hogan, the former head of Greyhound Racing NSW isproviding evidence at the special commission of Inquiry in the next two days concerning the high rates of Greyhound injuries and poor welfare standards in the industry. The Inquiry already heard that the Officials played down the injuries in order to avoid negative publicity and no deaths were reported.

Mr Hogan stepped down as Greyhound’s Racing NSW CEO last year due to the wake of Four Corners on live baiting.

An email was sent to Commissioner MicaherMcHugh from the chief steward of GRNSW which urged the officials to downplay the injuries of the dogs in post-race events to avoid negativity. The mail suggested that a broken leg can be referred to as an injured leg.

According to the suggested policy, if a dog was put down after a race, it is only the injury that will be reported and not the death itself. As such, this policy misled the public and therefore policy change was necessary.

Mr Hogan told the commission that the change of policy was intended only to make it easier for steward’s report and make the language consistent.

According to the commissioner, it appears to him that the policy was made deliberately to excite the interest of animal welfare groups.

“ Do you agree that this policy mislead the public?” the commissioner asked.

Mr Hogan replied, “Looking back to it, Yes.”

The commission has previously been told that up to 17,000 dogs were not allowed to race because they were not good enough. In fact, every month, over 600 greyhounds are reported to be injured in Australia, suffering from different and serious bone fractures as well as musculoskeletal injuries.

“Nonetheless, it is clear that the controlling bodies have failed to keep and also publish comprehensive injury reports,” Stephen Rushton, the assisting counsel to the inquiry said.

There has been evidence that animal cruelty has been common among various greyhound trainers. This comes after three trainers were found guilty of the act and imposed various punishments. Two of these will have to spend some time in jail whereas the third trainer has been accorded with a long terms suspension sentence. These three men were caught red handed indulging in the Four Corners live baiting scandal.

For greyhound trainer John Cauchi, 18 months in cell awaits him. Furthermore, he was accorded with a 12 month non-parole jail term in the 18 months sentence. The convict who is the current manager of the licensed Boxhill Trial Track based in Western Sydney was eager to plead guilty of using rabbits as a way of luring the ‘bloody’ greyhound. It was evident through a video how Cauchi was trying to excite and entice his greyhound using a rabbit.

John as well as his brother Tony Cauchi did not try to resist their charge and pleaded guilty with over 15 counts of animal cruelty to their names. Tony faced similar sentence of 18 months as his brother. However, the sentence was suspended as it was claimed that Tony had a problem of intellectual impairment.

At the same time, Ian Morgan aged 58 and a trainer of Telopea pleaded guilty of animal cruelty and was accorded with a 12 month sentence. This came after he was caught red handed by a hidden camera back in January using a live possum in attempt to lure one of his dogs.

The video clip showed Morgan taking the possum to Londonderry property of Zeke Kadir a popular person in the industry who is known for his tactics of breaking ingenuousness greyhounds. The evident showed Morgan giving the possum from his car to Kadir.

According to state magistrate Fiona Toose, the trainer was accorded with the custodian sentence after it was evident that the possum inflicted pain and cruelty to the dogs. Morgan has to undertake 9 months of indoor sentence before being granted a parole sentence.

The three convicts were denied a chance to be close to any animal for a period not less than 20 years.