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Greyhound racing; a track record of welfare concerns

Greyhound racing in Australia has long exemplified the tension between using animals in sport and entertainment, and concern for animal welfare. To its supporters, greyhound racing is a tradition built on athleticism and competition. To its critics, it’s an industry fundamentally dependent on the exploitation of animals, whose wellbeing is too often compromised in the pursuit of speed and profit.

RSPCA Australia
Thursday, 18 June 2026

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Over the past decade, repeated investigations as well as government inquiries and numerous scandals have made it clear that the central question that must now be considered is not whether welfare issues exist in greyhound racing. But rather, whether an industry which has shown these failings consistently time and again, can ever truly protect the animals at its centre?

Injuries and physical toll

One of the most confronting welfare issues in greyhound racing is the frequency of injuries and deaths on and off the track.

According to data from the Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds, in 2025 alone, 287 greyhounds were killed and 10,785 injured on Australian racetracks. Of the dogs who died, 119 were euthanased on track by veterinarians, while 168 were removed with severe injuries and subsequently died or were euthanased later. On average, racing killed 5 dogs every week and injured 30 dogs every day. It’s important to note that injury and death statistics are not consistently published for all tracks nationally by the racing industry, and practices differ dramatically between states and territories. So, while this number is confronting, it may only be a conservative estimate based on the information available, with serious concerns that there could be many more greyhounds whose injuries and deaths are unaccounted for in these numbers.

At racing speeds exceeding 60km per hour, collisions, falls, and limb fractures can occur in mere seconds. While industry enthusiasts often frame such incidents as unfortunate accidents, they are in fact a regular, predictable and inevitable consequence of racing. Bone fractures are particularly devastating for greyhounds, with many so severely injured that euthanasia occurs almost immediately following the injury. Even newly designed facilities promoted as safer and more welfare focused have continued to record fatalities and injuries; a recent example being Queensland’s $90 million greyhound racing complex, The Q, which faced severe structural safety, faulty drainage systems and more. These hazards have been alleged to have directly contributed to the deaths and injuries of dozens of greyhounds.

The persistence of such high numbers of injuries and deaths has raised questions about how much meaningful risk reduction is achievable in an industry fundamentally based on racing animals in high-speed pursuit. Until concerted efforts are put into designing safer tracks, rather than quick fix solutions to appease stakeholders, animal welfare concerns will continue to persist.

A life worth living

Modern animal welfare science recognises that animal welfare is not merely the absence of illness or pain, but also the opportunity for positive experiences, social interaction, enrichment, and the ability to express natural behaviours. Yet, for the majority racing greyhounds today, this is not the case.

Most racing greyhounds spend long periods kennelled, some up to 20 hours a day, in an environment with limited stimulation and a lack of socialisation. Many greyhound puppies and adult greyhounds are never adequately socialised, either with other different types of dogs, humans, or in different environments. As a result, they have limited experiences with the different sights, objects, surfaces and sounds that companion dogs are likely to encounter in their lives. This deprivation matters, because greyhounds, like many other dogs, are by nature affectionate and deeply social animals.

When raised under inadequate conditions and with chronic confinement, they may end up predisposed to a range of behavioural difficulties such as fearfulness, frustration, anxiety and destructive tendencies, which may reduce their chances of successful rehoming at the end of their racing career. Depriving intelligent and social animals of the very things that make life enjoyable for them is not only harmful to their mental wellbeing, but well below what could be considered an acceptable community standard of companion animal care.

Over breeding and over supply

The racing career for many greyhounds is very short. Dogs who are able to begin a racing career usually start around 1 ½ years of age and are generally retired between 2 and 5 years - some even earlier if they’re injured or don’t perform well. To keep up with the demand for commercially successful racers, thousands of greyhounds are bred annually in Australia. It has been estimated that in some jurisdictions, 40% of greyhounds bred for racing will never even make it to the track.

The result is a chronic oversupply of dogs, far exceeding the number of long-term suitable homes available once they’re no longer needed by the industry. While adoption programs have expanded in recent years, there are still too many dogs being bred by an industry that does not have the capacity to provide care for all of them. Although some industry-based adoption programs operate, a significant number of greyhounds leaving the industry are rehomed through independent and private volunteer rescue groups, many who rely solely on community support. And while these programs offer some reprieve for a proportion of dogs, the systematic issue of excess dogs being produced by the industry each year continues.

Lack of transparency and oversight

One of the biggest issues within the greyhound industry is the ongoing lack of transparency regarding breeding numbers, injury statistics, euthanasia rates and the fate of retired greyhounds. There is no independent verification of who and how these dogs are cared for, including the number and length of time that healthy dogs are kept in facilities awaiting adoption, or if they were put up for adoption at all. Further concerns remain that many racing greyhounds may be killed without auditable whole-life tracing, and there is little assurance that every greyhound assessed as suitable leaving the industry is given the opportunity to live a happy and healthy life.

Compounding the problem is that in many Australian states, the same bodies responsible for promoting and profiting from greyhound racing are also responsible for regulating the industry, resulting in a concerning conflict of interest. This structure limits accountability and makes it difficult to ensure animal welfare standards are consistently enforced. Although some states publish limited injury and fatality reports, there is no nationally consistent tracking system that follows greyhounds from birth to retirement or death, which creates a sizeable loophole for welfare concerns to be hidden from public scrutiny, and makes it difficult to accurately assess the full scale of harm occurring.

What does the future look like for greyhound racing in Australia?

Based on international trends, the future of greyhound racing in Australia looks grim.

Commercial greyhound racing is currently practiced in only a few countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland, as well as Australia. In most of these countries, the sport is waning, with tracks closing and breeders ceasing to operate. There has been a decline in the industry worldwide through community concern and the resulting pressure from animal welfare and other community groups, based on animal welfare issues as well as the negative social impacts of gambling. As a result, many countries that previously permitted greyhound racing have now moved to end it.

Meanwhile in Australia, a recent independent poll commissioned by RSPCA Australia found 66.5% of Australians are concerned about the treatment of greyhounds in the racing industry. Tasmania is in the midst of a government-mandated transition to shut down commercial greyhound racing by June 30, 2029, while South Australia is struggling to maintain its greyhound racing industry while dealing with internal scandals and immense pressure from animal welfare advocates.

The community’s concern over the welfare of greyhounds in the racing industry is unlikely to diminish. The welfare impacts associated with greyhound racing are not isolated failures or remnants of the past; rather, they appear to be persistent, systemic, and deeply embedded in the structure and operation of the industry itself. While efforts to reduce injuries, deaths, confinement, overbreeding and poor transparency should be rightly applauded, these concerns remain despite years of scrutiny and attempts at reform. For now, the fate of any greyhound racing in Australia today remains worryingly uncertain.

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Greyhound racing; a track record of welfare concerns