{"id":548678,"date":"2026-07-29T00:14:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T00:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/548678\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T00:14:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T00:14:17","slug":"greyhound-racing-on-home-straight-ahead-of-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/548678\/","title":{"rendered":"Greyhound racing on home straight ahead of ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

Greyhound racing in New Zealand is entering its final days, with the last race meetings taking place this week before the sport is banned from Saturday.<\/p>\n

Friday’s two race meetings will mark the end of commercial greyhound racing in New Zealand, following the Government’s decision in late 2024 to outlaw the sport over ongoing animal welfare concerns.<\/p>\n

The SPCA has welcomed the move, calling it “an historic moment” for New Zealand. Senior scientific officer Alison Vaughan said the ban offered “a chance for a brighter future for many greyhounds”.<\/p>\n

\"SPCA<\/p>\n

SPCA senior scientific officer Alison Vaughan. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

“I think New Zealanders can feel proud of taking this step onto the right side of history,” she said.<\/p>\n

‘Sobering time’<\/p>\n

\"Greyhounds<\/p>\n

Greyhounds on a podium following a race in Auckland. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

However, Greyhound Racing New Zealand\u2019s chief executive Edward Rennell said it was a “sobering time”.<\/p>\n

“There are a lot of sad people this week. It\u2019s unfortunate but people are dealing with it. Clearly, we still believe there are no grounds for it [the ban]. It\u2019s an unfair and unjust decision,” he said.<\/p>\n

The final Manukau Stadium race last Sunday was accompanied by protesters. One man told demonstrators he would kill his dogs after the ban took effect. A video showed a small group of demonstrators exchanging words over a fence with a group from the racetrack. One man yelled: “Guess what, on Monday we\u2019re going to blow all our dogs away. F*** ya.”<\/p>\n

Police and the SPCA have been notified.<\/p>\n

\"Greyhound<\/p>\n

Greyhound Racing NZ chief executive Edward Rennell. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Rennell said the man did not have greyhounds in his care and described the remark as an attempt to provoke protesters.<\/p>\n

“That individual does not have dogs in his care. It was a dumb, stupid comment made to wind up the protesters,” he said.<\/p>\n

Asked whether he had concerns about the welfare of greyhounds once racing ended, Rennell replied: “Absolutely not.”<\/p>\n

Up to 1400 racing dogs in need of new homes<\/p>\n

\"Greyhounds<\/p>\n

Greyhounds following a race at a track. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

A Government-funded transition agency has been established to oversee the closure of the industry and the rehoming of racing dogs.<\/p>\n

It estimated between 1300 and 1400 greyhounds would need to be adopted. Until permanent homes were found, owners would receive $36 a day for each dog to continue caring for them.<\/p>\n

Rennell said it was not an “entirely unreasonable” amount, but should be higher.<\/p>\n

“These people, apart from caring and feeding the dogs, have to also earn a living, pay tax, and they can\u2019t seek alternative employment while caring for the dogs,” he said.<\/p>\n

Peters ‘confident’ in smooth transition<\/p>\n

\"Minister<\/p>\n

Minister for Racing Winston Peters announced the ban in December 2024. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Minister for Racing Winston Peters, who announced the ban in December 2024, said he was confident the transition would be managed appropriately.<\/p>\n

“I’m confident our team… will be on top of this issue and will handle the matter properly,” he said.<\/p>\n

The Government announced the ban after a series of reviews found the industry had failed to adequately address animal welfare issues, including serious injuries and deaths.<\/p>\n

Greyhound Racing NZ defended its record. Rennell said 13 dogs had died from about 36,000 race starts in this final season of racing.<\/p>\n

The SPCA said it hoped New Zealand’s decision would add to growing international momentum to end greyhound racing.<\/p>\n

Vaughan pointed to moves in Scotland and Wales to phase out the sport, and the Tasmanian government’s decision to end its financial support for greyhound racing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Greyhound racing in New Zealand is entering its final days, with the last race meetings taking place this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[50,42,43,135,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-548678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-animals","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}