The looming greyhound welfare crisis

It looked like the Government had animal welfare in mind when it announced the decision this week to ban greyhound racing in NZ, but greyhound owner PAT PILCHER explains why it’s not quite that simple.

We’ve owned ex-racing greyhounds for 11 years. There’s something incredibly special about the breed. They’re gentle, lazy, goofy and great around people. I’d previously owned a dachshund. I’d be lying If I said that moving from a tiny dog to a big one wasn’t a concern. When we got our first hound, Lottie, my fears were proven unwarranted.

Owning a greyhound is a lot like owning a cat. They’re incredibly lazy and very low maintenance – I’d even go as far as to say that they’re way less work than our dachshund ever was. I became so besotted with greyhounds that I set up the Facebook group for the love of greyhounds, which has grown to over 8000 members worldwide.

When NZ First Leader Winston Peters announced that Greyhound racing would be banned, I was shocked. Since then, I’ve taken a closer look at how the ban will work, and my shock has been replaced by mounting levels of concern.

I’m not alone, either. The detail (or lack thereof) in Winston’s proposed ban has seen many pet greyhound owners, trainers, and rehoming agencies voicing concerns about what has the makings of an animal welfare disaster.

While Winston’s announcement was well received by the public and media, few of the people who have commented on the issue have any real knowledge of the greyhound breed’s situation or the difficulties and complexities the decision could unleash.

Greyhound racing is an incredibly divisive and emotionally loaded issue. Having owned pet greyhounds for quite some time, I’ve lost count of people who have assumed our hounds were “rescued” and/or horribly mistreated when they were racing. Just to be clear, I’m not pro or anti-racing, I just want to see a good outcome for this incredible breed.

Our current greyhound, Blaze, wasn’t much of a racer. He ran six races and won only one, but he got bored with racing and decided a comfy sofa was a much better proposition. Having met his former trainer, I know he was a much-loved part of their lives and was well looked after while in their care.

This is important as it appears that Winston, a seasoned judge of prevailing political sentiment, has grasped the greyhound racing issue, seeing its highly emotive nature as low-hanging political fruit and, most critically, a means of restoring some much-needed positivity around the Coalition given the recent battering they took from the Treaty Principles Bill. The timing of the ban coming into effect is no accident, either. In 20 months, NZ will be heading into a general election, and the coalition will probably tout the greyhound ban as one of its key achievements.

Because most people are blissfully unaware of the details likely to be involved in implementing a racing ban, most have given little thought to the knock-on effects that could see large numbers of greyhounds killed or suffering horribly once the ban comes into play.

There are currently 2990 racing greyhounds in New Zealand. Checking with industry sources reveals that anything from 2900 to 4000 greyhounds are in the care of the handful of greyhound adoption agencies waiting to be adopted. Add to this greyhound puppies and younger hounds owned by trainers and brood dogs, some of whom will currently be pregnant as well as dogs with retired trainers waiting to go into the rehoming programme, and the total number of greyhounds in New Zealand (excluding those already adopted as pets) is likely to be more than 6000 hounds.

Here’s the kicker. In 20 months, all of them will need homes. This is important because the current number of greyhounds rehomed by all the greyhound adoption agencies combined is, on average (in a good year), around the 600 mark. So how does Winston propose to get an extra 5400 hounds adopted?

Further fuelling this looming catastrophe, most adoption agencies currently receive a sizeable chunk of their funding from Greyhound Racing New Zealand, which, in 20 months, will presumably cease to exist. This will most likely also see funding for greyhound adoption agencies vanishing – just when it will be needed the most. That said, a quick check of parliamentary Hansard reveals that the Government plans to introduce a second bill to manage the racing industry shutdown. Either way, the lack of communication around how the process will be managed offers little to no clarity or reassurance for adoption agencies, trainers and other players within the industry.

Greyhound trainers range from smaller operators with 1-6 racing hounds to large-scale commercial operators with several hundred greyhounds. Because they’ll be unable to race their hounds, they won’t necessarily be earning enough money to feed or care for them. Adoption agencies struggling to stay financially solvent will be in no position to take on more than a trickle from the flood of what could be 6000 plus greyhounds desperate trainers will seek to rehome. It currently takes months to get a greyhound into the rehoming programme, a cost presently absorbed by trainers, and once the ban comes into effect, time won’t be the luxury that trainers or rehoming agencies will have.

Bizarrely, Winston has doubled down, saying he is confident that all the greyhounds can be adopted. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have doubts.

The reality is this: The numbers simply don’t stack up, and we’ve yet to hear any real details about how Winston will magically rehome all these greyhounds.

While Winston has said that the government will work with the SPCA to help rehome greyhounds, nothing has been said about how the SPCA will make room for what is looking set to be a massive influx. Unless they can magically procure a sizeable boost to their existing funding (again, some communication around this by the Government would be extremely helpful) and build significant additional infrastructure, the only other option the SPCA will have will be to euthanise a sizeable percentage of the existing dogs already in their care to make room for the massive numbers of greyhounds they’ve been tasked with rehoming.  That isn’t fair to those other dogs, and places the SPCA in a terrible situation.

Crucially, the adoption issue isn’t just a straight numbers game. Greyhounds live an extremely ordered and structured life when racing. Transitioning from racing into pet life can sometimes require months of conditioning and rehabilitation by adoption agencies. Identifying which greyhounds are cat trainable, which greyhounds can live with other dog breeds or other animals and helping them adjust to simple things like stairs, houses, glass doors and/or being the only dog is critical to them becoming the placid, gentle and lazy pets that we adore. The rehoming agencies that currently rehome greyhounds only rehome greyhounds. They already have the appropriate infrastructure. They know the breed, and they understand the lifestyle and routines they have lived with. They are experienced with working with hounds who need more time to adjust, are anxious or need work to learn not to chase little animals.  An example is Great Mates, which currently assesses all greyhounds who enter the rehoming programme to see which further training is required and allocates them accordingly.  The rehomers carefully assess what issues the greyhound may have difficulty with and carefully match them to a home where they can thrive.

The reality is that the SPCA is simply not geared up to cater to this and many other nuances of the greyhound breed. This could see many hounds struggling with pet life, leading to further problems once they’re adopted, tarnishing the breed’s reputation, and making the public less likely to adopt them.

Then there is the money (or the lack thereof). So far, Winston has not mentioned any funding for greyhound adoption agencies or the SPCA. Adoption agencies are going to be flooded with greyhounds yet unable to afford to stay afloat financially. Trainers faced with the increasingly impossible financial burden of keeping their now non-racing greyhounds fed and healthy once the ban comes into play will be placed in an impossible position. Unfunded greyhound rehoming agencies won’t be able to keep taking more greyhounds, leaving trainers with only one heartbreaking option – euthanising their greyhounds, which could see them potentially running afoul of the new law requiring a vet to approve any ex-racing greyhound euthanisation on the grounds of the hound’s welfare.

Even if funding is provided to, for example, the SPCA and other non-specialist agencies, the numbers simply don’t stack up. Greyhounds will likely languish in kennel situations for years. This is unfair to the dogs and could have been avoided by managing the situation better instead of using it as a political tool to gain voters’ kudos.

The most tragic part of this horrible situation is that it is avoidable. Less than two years before the ban places adoption agencies, animal welfare agencies and greyhound trainers under huge pressure. Surely a sinking lid policy that saw the number of eligible greyhound registrations for racing decrease to zero over five years would be a far smarter (and more humane) move?  Support for the ban spans all sides of Parliament, so why the huge rush? Breeding could cease now, meaning that brood bitches would need rehoming soon, along with the dogs who are retiring or already on the waiting lists and those who are unsuited for racing. Large numbers of greyhounds don’t have to die, and trainers can transition towards new income opportunities.

Also, how about providing short-term funding to greyhound adoption agencies, which will become financially untenable once the ban comes into effect and Greyhound Racing NZ vanishes?  These agencies are already vastly experienced with the breed and have the infrastructure to ensure Greyhounds are set up for success, matched with the right home and rehomed if needed.  The current rehoming programme is excellent and has proven to work well. These agencies need to be funded to see this through.

Sadly, Winston seems more preoccupied with how the announcement plays out in the media and with voters than planning to avoid what could be a looming animal welfare catastrophe.

Here’s how you can help avoid this senseless and horrible situation. Write to or email your MP asking for funding to help greyhound adoption agencies and trainers when the ban comes into effect. Ask them to extend the frankly ridiculous 20-month period before the ban happens to a more sensible time – five years seems reasonable – with breeding stopping now.  Above all, adopt a greyhound! They’re amazing, loving and low-maintenance pets.