The article reports on the 'Ghosts of the Hunt' exhibition, a photography show hosted by Greyhound Welfare SA (GWA) in Cresta, Johannesburg. The exhibition features two photographic series: one by Dean Bush, founder of GWA, documenting greyhounds rescued from the Yat Yuen racetrack in Macau, China—a facility that killed 20,000 dogs over 54 years before closing in 2018—and another by professional photographer Warren Johnson, focusing on locally rescued greyhounds. The article also highlights ongoing controversies, including a recent auction in Bela Bela, Limpopo, where SA breeders paid R2.4 million for 65 greyhounds destined for international racing, and lobbying by the Amaphisi Hunters' Association to decriminalize dog hunting in South Africa.
This matters because it connects art activism to urgent animal welfare and policy debates, showing how visual storytelling can amplify calls for legal reform. The exhibition draws attention to the cruelty of greyhound racing and hunting, both abroad and in South Africa, where dog racing has been banned since 1949 but persists in underground forms and through exports. The article underscores the tension between cultural heritage claims and animal rights, as welfare organizations like GWA and the NSPCA push back against efforts to legalize hunting with dogs, framing the issue as a broader ethical and ecological crisis.