A greyhound trainer has had her racing ban extended from four months to 18 after an appeal by the Racing Integrity Unit against the original penalty delivered earlier this year.
Angela Turnwald’s greyhound Zipping Sarah won her race at Addington in November last year, but later tested positive for meth.
Investigators found the dog had a “particularly large” amount of the illicit drug in her system.
Turnwald pleaded guilty to the dog having the banned substance in its system, however initially claimed it was because someone who had smoked methamphetamine had patted the dog after the race.
It comes after a trainer received a four-month disqualification when her greyhound tested positive for meth, a punishment some in the industry say is too light.
She later abandoned that defence after experts said the drug would have taken hours to work through the dog’s system.
The trainer was handed a four month ban from the sport and a $3500 fine.
An obvious source of the drug is still yet to be identified.
Animal welfare advocates say that's nowhere near enough punishment, with the trainer's dogs were still racing today.
The RIU appealed the Judicial Control Authority’s penalty of four months disqualification on the basis it is “manifestly inadequate and inappropriate”, stating “animal welfare in the industry is a paramount consideration and any breach must not be tolerated".
"Methamphetamine and Amphetamine have no purpose in a greyhound and no place in the sport.”
Appearing before the Judicial Control Authority’s appeals tribunal earlier this year, Turnwald said media coverage of the case had negatively impacted her mental health and business.
She said she had dedicated her life to dogs, choking back tears as she told the tribunal “the situation I find myself in has been a living nightmare”, claiming her family had been harassed inside and out of the industry.
Turnwald will now be disqualified from racing until October 29 2022, with the 18 month ban starting from April 30 2021, the same date as her previous penalty began.
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