Traralgon's J-curve greyhound track, which was specially designed to improve animal safety, had the most injuries in Victoria last year and the fifth highest in the country, an animal welfare organisation has said.
Coalition for Protection of Greyhounds director Kylie Field said the track recorded 386 injuries last year and that another 63 had occurred this year.
"For a greyhound, this is a death sentence to be raced on [Traralgon] track. The risk of dying or being seriously injured is extremely high," Ms Field said.
Last week the track recorded its first death, when four-year-old Sunny Daze fell and fractured both forelegs during his 79th race and was euthanased by the on-track vet.
"It is the obligation of Greyhound Racing Victoria and the state government to investigate why these dogs are injured at the level they're being injured in Gippsland," Ms Field said.
'State-of-the-art' track
Ms Field said races should be halted at the track until an investigation could be done into its safety.
The state government contributed $3 million and Greyhound Racing Victoria $2 million to the building of the track, which was designed by engineers from the University of Technology Sydney to minimise injuries and deaths.
Ms Field said the track was clearly failing to keep dogs safe.
"This is not state-of-the-art, this is a death trap for dogs," she said.
"I mean the ministers and Greyhound Racing Victoria can tell everybody this is safer, but the figures are not lying, the dead dogs are not lying."
Ms Field said industry improvements could be made.
"They don't have a capping on how many races the dogs can do, which is what we've always asked for, [and] they have no transparency on breeding, which is the number one problem."
Ms Field said having fewer dogs racing could also help improve animal welfare.
"These are very small things that could make could save a few lives … at the end of the day, this industry needs to be on the scrap heap. It's barbaric. It's antiquated."
'A way to go' for animal safety
Member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing said it was devastating that animals had lost their lives on the track.
"Nobody is under any illusions about the challenges associated with animal welfare," Ms Shing said.
"As these statistics indicate we've got a way to go, we've got work to do, and I am as vocal as I can possibly be as a greyhound lover as a greyhound owner … to make sure that animal safety is at the forefront of those conversations."
Ms Shing said there were risks for any dogs racing at speed no matter the type of track they were racing on.
She said people were working across the industry to improve animal safety.
"I know that Greyhound Racing Victoria is looking at the condition of tracks not just at Traralgon but all over the state as part of its ordinary business," Ms Shing said.
"I also know that there's been a lot of work to change the camber and the drainage of tracks to make them safer over time, the J-track was intended to achieve this outcome."
A Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV) spokesperson said while the serious injury rate was higher than expected when the new Traralgon track opened, it had been consistently improving.
"Traralgon did have a high injury rate in the first half of 2022, but has been consistently improving since March 2022 and is now below the state average for serious injuries per 1,000 starters," the spokesperson said.
The GRV spokesperson said research from the University of Technology Sydney showed that six-dog races were no safer than eight-dog races but they were looking at other interventions such as preferential box draws which allowed dogs that run wide to draw wider boxes to get a clearer run in races.
They said serious race injury rates at Sale, Traralgon, Warragul in 2022 were only slightly higher than the state average when normalised for the volume of races conducted.
