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Possible greyhound burial site to be investigated by RSPCA

A bushwalker came across skulls in bushland in the Swan Bay area.

A bushwalker came across skulls in bushland in the Swan Bay area. Photo: ABC

The RSPCA will sweep bushland north of Newcastle on Monday after bushwalkers said they discovered what is feared to be a greyhound burial site.

Bobbie Antonic said her friend, Tracey, raised the alarm on Saturday, saying she found two skulls that looked like they came from dogs in bushland in the Swan Bay area.

Ms Antonic said she checked the site out for herself and said she found at least seven skulls.

“We went down and had a look … we found lots of bones, lots of skeletal remains,” she said.

“We saw skulls with blunt trauma on top of their head and the more we walked we found more skulls with blunt trauma.”

“It’s pretty sad. Swan Bay is a pretty quiet area and to know that someone has dumped clearly greyhounds … and there’s a hessian bag and there’s a tarpaulin as well and so there are more bits and pieces in that as well.”

RSPCA chief inspector, David O’Shannessy, said his inspectors would assess the site today.

“What we’ve got here at this stage is a complaint about some bones on public property,” he said.

“So my role and the role of the RSPCA at this stage is to investigate that complaint and ascertain whether there have been any animal-cruelty-related offences.”

Mr O’Shannessy said the bones had been found on public property, which can make any investigation difficult.

“I guess the difficulty is that this is public property so any number of people have access to it,” he said.

“It’s not like it’s on someone’s private property where you have got a direct link to the possible person responsible.

“So given that it’s public land we would encourage anyone with any information to come forward to assist us with our inquiries.”

The NSW Government last month announced greyhound racing would be banned in the state from July 1 next year.

The ban came after a special commission of inquiry found overwhelming evidence of animal cruelty, including mass greyhound killings and live baiting.

The remains of greyhounds were discovered at another site in the region last month.

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