End greyhound racing Australia-wide.

Australia’s greyhound racing industry is facing continued public scrutiny following public revelations of ongoing cruelty, including brutal live baiting, painful injuries, “extreme distress” of racing dogs, exports to supply China’s illegal gambling industry, and thousands of unreported deaths of unwanted dogs and puppies. 

In 2015, explosive investigations undertaken by Animals Australia and Animal Liberation Queensland documented widespread and entrenched ‘live baiting’ in Australia’s greyhound racing industry. Terrified piglets, rabbits and native possums were being tied to lures, flung around racetracks at breakneck speeds, and then mauled to death in a sadistic training method that was not only widespread, but widely accepted. Despite intense public backlash, and assurances and promises from state governments and racing bodies, in 2024, dogs and other animals are continuing to suffer for the sake of gambling profits. 

Since 2023 alone, there have been multiple allegations of animal cruelty — including drone footage capturing dogs and puppies being punched, kicked and dragged on a prominent South Australian trainer’s property.

In Victoria, a veteran greyhound trainer and another industry were caught live baiting, and Tasmania’s ‘top’ greyhound trainer was investigated for live baiting after the tail of a pademelon was found attached to a lure arm on his run-down property where dogs were being kept in freezing conditions.

Despite ABC Investigations revealing the extreme cruelty Australian dogs are being subjected to after being exported to China as ‘breeder dogs’, the Australian greyhound racing industry opposed amending legislation to prevent greyhounds from being exported overseas. 

What is perhaps most alarming is that a report by the outgoing Chief Veterinary Officer for Greyhound Racing New South Wales – home to more greyhound racing tracks than any other state – has alleged extreme, entrenched animal welfare issues across nearly every facet of the industry, including; 

• Dogs being pushed to race at a “barbaric” rate contributing to an alarming increase in injuries 
• Overbreeding of dogs to meet quotas leading to thousands of “exhausted” greyhounds being discarded “with no hope of being rehomed” 
• Dogs born into the industry “generally live in substandard conditions” in industrial kennels 
• Dogs injured on track continuing to be killed despite their injuries not being life-threatening 
• An “appalling” level of distress seen in dogs in track kennels 
• An “alarming” number of dogs discarded by the industry with severe health and behavioural issues, many requiring anti-anxiety medication due to “psychological trauma… endured during their racing lives”.

Despite these explosive allegations, the NSW Premier has committed to ongoing support of the state’s greyhound racing industry – undermining the findings of a recently-announced inquiry before it had even begun

But even this industry at its ‘best’ requires an ongoing demand to breed fast and ‘profitable’ dogs to support the primary goal of the racing industry: to generate gambling income. This means many dogs bred into the industry never make it to a race, and even the ‘winners’ can legally be confined for most of their lives to barren concrete and wire kennels, and exposed to a high risk of painful injury and death during training and racing. 

With Australians demanding an end to greyhound racing cruelty, a ban in the ACT was a big win for dogs and the people who care so much about them. It’s time for governments in other states to follow the ACT’s lead. 

While greyhound racing continues anywhere in Australia, dogs and animals used as ‘bait’ are still under threat.

If you want your state to be free of greyhound cruelty too, now is the time to speak up! Please send an urgent message to your State MP, calling on them to end greyhound racing.