The Animal Justice Party (AJP) is opposed to greyhound racing and the use of animals for ‘sport’ and entertainment.

The greyhound racing industry is inherently cruel and dangerous and cannot be regulated to prevent harm to animals. Each year in Australia, hundreds of dogs are killed in or immediately following races. There is massive overbreeding and those dogs that are not valuable for racing disappear with no hope of adoption because of the sheer number of dogs involved. Those dogs that are raced lead caged miserable lives and are subject to abuse. The industry is dependent on gambling revenue, which has a serious toll on mental health and domestic violence rates. 

Key Objectives

1. End greyhound racing in every state and territory.
2. End government funding and subsidies for the greyhound racing industry.
3. Develop a transition plan for those employed by the industry to retrain into non-exploitative jobs and careers and ensure the welfare of all former racing greyhounds.
4. Legislate a ban on the commercial live export of greyhounds.
5. Legislate a ban on surgical artificial insemination of dogs.
6. Stop the creation of new tracks and close and repurpose existing ones. 

Until the industry is phased out:

1. Fund not-for-profit greyhound rescue groups who undertake rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming of greyhounds while educating the public about the horrors of racing
2. Implement whole-of-life cross-border greyhound tracking.

Background

Greyhound racing involves greyhounds chasing a motorised lure around a specialised track while bets are made on particular dogs winning. Hundreds of dogs die each year in races and abuse of animals off the track is rife (see here, here and here). Overbreeding and the lack of whole-of-life registration of greyhounds means that thousands of financially unviable individuals are killed each year. This horrific industry is opposed by the public at large and relies on tax concessions and direct government subsidies to survive.

Harm on track

Racing is very dangerous for greyhounds, with hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries each year. The danger arises principally from the combination of extreme speed and tight turns. Collisions between dogs or of dogs with fixed infrastructure are inevitable. Even when these result in survivable injuries, the victims may be killed by a trackside vet, as the owners have no interest in paying to heal the injuries of dogs that will not win races. As well as those dogs that die as the result of collisions, some dogs simply collapse and die during or after races. Industry data is misleading because some dogs are kept alive for a few days before being euthanised and so are not reported as on-track deaths.

The industry has spent many millions of dollars of taxpayer money on track upgrades with the stated purpose of making tracks safer. However, these changes have not included the elimination of turns, which was the major recommendation of a University of Technology Sydney report into reducing risk in greyhound racing. The result is that deaths and injuries in racing have not decreased, in fact they have increased markedly, and all of the money spent on these ‘upgrades’ has been wasted. 

Another abuse suffered by racing dogs is being drugged by their owners. Greyhounds are often drugged with illegal substances to aid performance or disguise injury for the purpose of winning (or losing). Dogs testing positive for prohibited drugs are a regular occurrence, virtually weekly.

Abuse and neglect

Greyhounds are mostly kept in small, barren, solitary cages or kennels with no proper socialisation or play, as they are bred to race for money and treated as commodities - not as sentient beings. In NSW, greyhounds may get as little as 30 minutes uncaged time each day. Nearly 90% of greyhounds that leave the industry show signs of neglect. Racing dogs are not protected by legislation such as Victoria’s Domestic Animals Act.

Beyond this, some trainers physically abuse their dogs, as shown by videos of South Australian trainers kicking and punching dogs.

Overbreeding

The greyhound racing industry breeds many more dogs than it can actually race. A greyhound that wins many races can make a million dollars, but losers are treated merely as an expense. This creates a powerful incentive to breed excessively in search of a ‘winner’. A NSW Parliamentary Inquiry reported that many thousands of dogs were being killed in NSW alone. In NSW, registration of greyhounds is only required from when they begin racing, not from birth. Further, dogs are not tracked after they have been discarded by the industry. They could be ‘rehomed’ to an accomplice who will kill them without the authorities ever knowing. In effect, those pups not considered to be potential race winners can be killed without consequences.

In its report for 2021-22, the NSW Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission (GWIC) states that in NSW in 2021-2022, 4450 greyhound pups were born and 1989 greyhounds were retired from the industry or died. Data from several such reports shows that the NSW greyhound population is quite stable, so these numbers should balance. Instead, there is a gap of 2461 missing greyhounds, which presumably were killed. The number of greyhounds born far exceeds the capacity of rehoming organisations and 6 times more dogs are bred each year than are rehomed.

Many female greyhounds are subjected to painful and risky surgical artificial insemination. In this process, the uterus is cut open and semen implanted, all under general anaesthesia, which is particularly risky for greyhounds. This practice is opposed by a majority of vets and it is illegal in many countries, yet recent attempts to prohibit it were successfully opposed by the greyhound racing industry. 

Live baiting

The practice of ‘live baiting’ involves the use of living rabbits, piglets, chickens, kittens and possums as bait to entice and train greyhounds. This horrific practice was banned across all states and territories of Australia in 1979. Yet in 2015, the ABC’s Four Corners revealed that this horrendously cruel practice was rampant in NSW, Victoria and Queensland and was conducted by individuals at the highest levels in the industry, who also lied about their participation. 

As a result of the Four Corners story, states reacted immediately to ‘clean up’ the industry. However, live baiting has continued, with recent cases in NSW, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania.

Animal experimentation on greyhounds

Many ex-racing greyhounds have been bought or surrendered to animal testing and research laboratories for experimentation. Humane Research Australia (now called Animal-Free Science Advocacy) found 78 cases in particular during 2016, where ex-racing greyhounds from South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria were subjected to a range of invasive and painful heart, kidney and dental surgical experiments designed for human benefit. All dogs were killed at the end of the experiments.

Further testing on greyhounds continues today, made possible by an industry that has no accountability post-track. Ironically, greyhounds (and beagles) are preferred due to their docile and trusting nature. However, the canine and human anatomy is so different that results are unreliable, inconclusive or speculative at best and therefore pointless and cruel.

Live export

According to the peak national racing body, Greyhounds Australasia, the live export of greyhounds is not permitted unless the greyhound has a passport and the destination country has passed an animal welfare check. However, loopholes in the system have allowed the systematic export of Australian greyhounds to China where they face a grim future in an illegal racing industry.

Another greyhound live export program, intended to provide social licence for the industry, the so-called ‘Aussie Mates in the States’ program, is an expensive sham that has led to terrible outcomes for some of the dogs involved.

Gambling

Australians lose more than $26 billion annually on gambling and greyhound racing is one of the main activities on which participants gamble. The social costs of gambling include domestic violence, relationship breakdowns, financial problems, anxiety, depression and suicide. Yet federal and state governments invest more and more taxpayer funding into propping up this insidious industry and perpetuating the cycle of poor mental health outcomes, and violence towards animals and fellow human beings. The AJP opposes all gambling involving animals.

Related Policies

Horse Racing, Jumps and Harnesses Policy

Animals in Entertainment Policy

Gambling Policy

Animal Experimentation Policy

Reviewed: October 2024