Greyhound racing bosses concede the fight is over

Summarised by Centrist

Greyhound Racing New Zealand says its bid to stop the sport’s shutdown is finished after Parliament passed legislation banning greyhound racing from August 1 by 112 votes to 11. 

GRNZ chief executive Edward Rennell called the vote “the final nail in the coffin” and said the industry was now “out of options”.

Racing Minister Winston Peters said the ban followed years of failed attempts to fix welfare problems. He said independent reviews in 2013, 2017 and 2021 found “serious animal welfare concerns” and that while some improvements were made, “injury/death rates remained unacceptably high to the point the sport had lost its social licence”. Peters called it “a good day for greyhounds” and said Parliament had spoken with a “strong majority, principled voice”.

Rennell strongly disagreed with the decision, saying: “We think the decision is bulls***.” But he accepted the legal road had effectively ended and said GRNZ’s focus would now shift to compensation and transition support for those in the industry. He said people who bred dogs in late 2024 now face being “only able to race them for a few months before racing stops”. Racing will continue until the ban takes effect, with about 1700 dogs still active.

The government says the next step is a formal wind-down. Peters said the bill allows the creation of a transition agency to oversee the closure of the sector and the rehoming of dogs. 

Support is expected to include care and housing for dogs awaiting adoption, help for rehoming agencies, retraining for workers and mental health services. Peters rejected claims that participants and animals were being abandoned, saying: “We are not walking away from our responsibilities; we are meeting them head-on.” 

Read more over at The NZ Herald

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