A greyhound has been euthanised after it was injured during a race in Newcastle on Friday.
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The dog is one of at least 50 greyhounds to have died while racing, or to have been euthanised by a registered on-track vet due to an injury sustained in a race, in NSW this year.
The one-and-a-half-year-old greyhound Serene Spirit was participating in a fifth grade, 515 metre race at a weekly meet at Ladbrokes Gardens in Birmingham Gardens on Friday.
A race report, written by stewards from the NSW greyhound racing regulator the Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission, said Serene Spirit collided with a number of other dogs in the first turn of the track causing her to "fall awkwardly".
The race report said the commission's on-track vet found she had fractured one wrist and had sustained a second injury to the other.
She did not complete the race and was collected by track staff.
A second dog was injured in the incident, with the commission's onsite vet ruling the dog be incapacitated for 10 days.
In the Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission's latest report from the April 1 to June 30 quarter, the commission said the quarter had seen the lowest rates of dog fatalities per race starts since 2016.
A total of 17 dogs died or were euthanised on the track in NSW between April and June, representing half a percent of the dogs involved in races overseen by the commission over the quarter.
A further four greyhounds were reported to the commission as having been euthanised by a private veterinarian as a result of an injury on track.
Almost a fifth, or 18 per cent, of dogs involved in racing over the quarter sustained some sort of injury on the race track, ranging from minor to fatal.
The Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds, a national advocacy group with an aim of "informing the public about the cruelties of greyhound racing,'' said Serene Spirit's death highlighted "inevitability" of fatalities in the sport.
The Coalition's vice president Dennis Anderson said industry-funded research showed straight tracks and fewer dogs running in any given race results in fewer injuries and deaths.
"Serene Spirit's fatal injuries at the first turn of the race again underline the inherent danger of curved tracks. This particular stewards' report highlights many other incidents where greyhounds come into contact while racing through the track turns," he said.
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