Just when you think this world couldn’t get anymore screwed up, we now have dogs on meth.
A New Zealand greyhound trainer has been disqualified after her winning dog tested positive for meth. Zipping Sarah had finished first at Christchurch’s Addington Raceway in November 2020, which earned a NZ $4,000 stake for her trainer Angela Helen Turnwald, the New Zealand Herald reported.
That prize money would be withheld after a post-race urine analysis revealed methamphetamine and amphetamine in the dog’s system.
“The level of amphetamine (as it metabolized from methamphetamine) in the sample was particularly large,” said Warwick Gendall, panel chairman of the Judicial Control Authority for Racing. He noted that the potent stimulant “poses significant animal welfare issues.”
The committee didn’t find Turnwald guilty of “deliberate wrongdoing” as they couldn’t determine when the drugs were administered.
Authorities did not say for sure how Zipping Sarah got the meth in her system, but they say Turnwald stopped off at a friend’s house with Zipping Sarah and another dog before attending the race.
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Even still, the trainer was disqualified the trainer for four months and slapped her with a NZ $3,500 fine.
The incident sparked anger among animal rights groups in New Zealand.
“Giving a dog methamphetamine to improve their race performance is depraved, it’s abhorrent,” Will Appelbe, of the rights group SAFE, told RNZ. “It’s a reality in greyhound racing in New Zealand at the moment.”
It was reportedly the third case of dog doping within the last six months.
