August 11, 2025
On 19 February 2021, Whanganui Animal Save activists held the first-ever demonstration outside a greyhound racing venue in New Zealand. On 31 July 2026, three of us were back there to bear witness to the last greyhound races ever to be held in this country.
The beginning of the end of greyhound racing in New Zealand came in 2012, when a young greyhound lover, Aaron Cross of the Greyhound Protection League, started out with single-minded determination to advocate publicly for greyhounds. All animal activists know how hard it is to get publicity in mainstream media, but Aaron struck gold — he was interviewed on public television, and what he had to say made the nation sit up and listen.
Suddenly the issue was thrown into the public eye. What really goes on behind the scenes in greyhound racing? Dog lover and animal campaigner Lynn Charlton began writing opinion editorials herself, or arranging for journalists to write articles, that were read by hundreds of thousands of people, and this also helped momentum to build.
Soon, the first of three formal investigations into the industry was instigated by John Key's National government. This report was highly critical, judging the industry's high euthanasia rates and lack of transparency as "not sustainable." A second review in 2017 made the scale of the problem explicit: 77% of trainers had had a healthy greyhound euthanised, 1,447 dogs had been destroyed in just four seasons, and evidence suggested even that figure was an underestimate, with 1,271 dogs simply unaccounted for. The cramped and sometimes dilapidated housing, lack of socialisation, and specialised diets of racing greyhounds became another issue that didn't sit well with the dog-loving public.
At this stage, the industry, under onslaught, began to close ranks. By 2020, Greyhound Racing New Zealand had stopped reporting its progress to government altogether, unilaterally declaring all recommendations in the earlier reports fulfilled. Yet the deaths and injuries continued.
As an animal activist, and an early member of the Greyhound Protection League, I followed developments closely. When five greyhounds were euthanised here in Whanganui at Hatrick Raceway in the space of just three weeks — with injuries ranging from fractured hocks to a ruptured stomach — New Zealand's largest animal rights group, SAFE, called Hatrick the "death track" and called for an immediate investigation. As a result, a third review was conducted: the Robertson Review, carried out during the Jacinda Ardern Labour government by Sir Bruce Robertson. When the independent review was presented to him, Racing Minister Grant Robertson (no relation) issued a ministerial statement putting the industry "on notice." If it didn't make the improvements recommended, he said, it risked closure.
I contacted Aaron Cross and said I'd like to start up regular demonstrations as Whanganui Animal Save. He said the Greyhound Protection League NZ would pay to have signs printed, if we could include both logos. Every Friday, our small group turned up and get videos and photos that we shared on social media. The local paper also did articles on us. Often we faced abuse from greyhound racers and trainers, and sometimes members of the public. But there were a lot of positive toots for us too, and I was hopeful with much of the public on our side, things would change. But even I didn't think that within five years it would be gone for good.
By August 2021, 38,631 people had signed a petition calling for a ban, and by September the minister had put the industry formally on notice: reform or face closure. In 2022, a survey found only 9% of New Zealanders believed racing greyhounds had a good life, and nearly 75% said they'd vote to ban the sport outright. That December, a further review, conducted by the Racing Integrity Board, found progress "mixed" at best, and uncovered 174 euthanasias at a single kennel.
By the end of 2024, the government had seen enough: Racing Minister Winston Peters announced the ban, legislation was rushed through under urgency to prevent a final wave of killings in response to the news, and the industry was given 20 months to rehome an estimated 2,900 dogs before commercial racing ended for good in August 2026.
Once the ban was announced, we no longer demonstrated in front of the venue, although I would sometimes go down to get some footage. Up in Auckland, however, Deno Stock and his Freedom for the Animals team continued to frequent racetracks, filming sometimes damning footage that underscored how innocent dogs were made to suffer for our entertainment and profit — and that it was right that it should be "doggone."
The ban finally came into effect yesterday, 1 August 2026, and Lonia, Steve and I were feeling quite emotional as we thought back to the beginning of 2021 when we started our vigils. At this stage, 1,400 ex-racers are still to be settled in loving homes, but New Zealand’s largest animal agencies, including GPLNZ, SAFE, SPCA, and HUHA are helping to place them, and I know they will succeed.
I am overjoyed to think that beautiful doggos will no longer be put in harm's way in this country through greyhound racing, and I’m proud that a small team of Animal Save Movement activists, demonstrating for years outside one of the most lethal tracks in New Zealand, played their part in bringing this about.
Written by Sandra Kyle
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