In race four on April 14, Pretty Smart collided with another dog on the first turn before it had to be euthanized by the on-track vet.

Unfortunately the death was the 50^th in Australia this year with 23 occurring at New South Wales tracks. The state has recorded 821 injuries overall to date.

In their meetings this year, Wauchope has recorded 23 injuries to dogs including five major injuries.

A greyhound owner who wished to remain anonymous said they didn't think it was a life or death industry.

"In all the times we've had dogs, we never had an occasion where we didn't take the dog that raced home," they said.

"So whenever a dog has to be put to sleep, of course it's a concern."

Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds national president Dennis Anderson said while they wanted the industry banned, the next best option was to phase out oval tracks in place of straight tracks.

"Wauchope doesn't feature in the most dangerous tracks in Australia and nor does Taree," he said.

"But we're anticipating a higher death rate this year than we had last year.

"It highlights the requirement for tracks to be straight and for the maximum number of dogs in a race to be reduced to six from eight."

In comparison, Wauchope registered four deaths last year while Taree had one and the most deadly track in NSW was Richmond which had seven.

Mr Anderson conceded it was unknown if there was anything inherently more dangerous at Wauchope as far as the track surface was concerned.

"So we put it down to the fact it was a seven-dog race," he said.

The safest option for greyhounds was a six-dog race on a straight track as it eliminated the risk of dogs colliding on bends as they looked for the inside running.

"What we want to see are all oval tracks closed and straight tracks built and the number of dogs reduced from eight down to six," Mr Anderson said.

"They are building a straight track at Richmond and are foreshadowing straight tracks being built up on the Tweed and in Goulburn.

"That is certainly a step in the right direction."

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