The New Zealand government today proposed legislation to ban greyhound racing from 2026, citing animal welfare concerns and clarifying that the percentage of dogs injured in racing remains unacceptably high.
New Zealand's dog racing industry has long been publicly criticized for not doing enough to protect animal welfare, with three reviews of the industry carried out in the past decade recommending major changes. "While fewer dogs are being killed, the injury rates, although slightly lower, are still unacceptably high," said Infrastructure and Racing Minister Winston Peters.
Greyhound racing will be phased out over the next 20 months, and an advisory board has been appointed to help find new homes for the roughly 2.900 racing dogs, Peters said.
The non-profit organization Safe for Animals announced that during the 2023-2024 New Zealand racing season. 13 greyhounds died. The Greyhound Protection Association has documented hundreds of deaths and tens of thousands of injuries to animals on Australian racetracks in recent years.
The opposition also supports the ban
The government presented a bill supported by the opposition Labor Party, the aim of which is to prevent the unnecessary killing of dogs. Next year, they will introduce additional laws to amend the existing ones and ban greyhound racing, Peters pointed out.
The Australian state of New South Wales tried to ban greyhound racing in 2017, but backed off after a strong backlash from industry representatives. New Zealand, along with the USA, Ireland, Australia and Britain, is one of only five countries where commercial greyhound racing is still allowed.
It makes up 8,5 per cent of New Zealand's racing industry worth about US$760 million with just over 1.000 full-time jobs, the figures show. Greyhound Racing New Zealand has announced that hundreds of trainers, breeders and industry employees are now facing losing their jobs, Hina reports.
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