Issues
The
Rehoming
Crisis
There will never be enough homes for the thousands of dogs the industry discards every year.
About the Rehoming Crisis
The Rehoming Crisis
The greyhound racing industry breeds far too many dogs to ensure that enough are commercially useful. This leads to ‘uncompetitive’ greyhound puppies and adults being discarded in their thousands every year.
The Australian greyhound racing industry is currently breeding twice as many greyhounds as it can rehome. This has led to a greyhound rehoming crisis across Australia.
In FY24, the industry rehoming organisations (GAPs) rehomed just 3,580 dogs, fewer than the combined total offloaded through unregulated pathways.
Unregulated third-party adoptions more than doubled, exposing greyhounds to unnecessary euthanasia and abandonment.
Community rescue groups continued to pick up the slack in industry rehoming, despite receiving no formal funding or support.
Overbreeding remains rampant, with 8,633 pups whelped — nearly 2.5 times the number adopted via GAPs.
Euthanasia climbed to 1,772 dogs, the highest figure since 2019, as the industry maintained its reliance on killing dogs that are older, injured, or need rehabilitation.
The Horror of “Wastage”
Around 25% of greyhound puppies never make it to the track. The industry calls them “initial wastage”.
Many of these dogs remain unnamed as a greyhound only requires a name when it is added to the racing register. These dogs are very vulnerable as there is no incentive to ensure their wellbeing or that they are added to tracking systems.
With unwanted greyhounds being discarded by the industry in their thousands each year.
Overbreeding and wastage is also encouraged by the NSW Government which uses taxpayer money to inflate prize money offered to industry participants.
Greyhound Racing Industry’s Cruel Solutions
The overbreeding of greyhounds means that the industry is facing its biggest crisis since the exposure of live baiting and mass killing of young greyhounds in 2016. Unregulated private rehoming is being deliberately encouraged with dogs being handed off through private sales, giveaways, or classified ads — with no vetting, tracking or aftercare.
Queensland has only recently introduced rules to stop hundreds of greyhounds being sent to their death at the University of Queensland and other research and veterinary facilities.
Whole-of-life tracking continues to be a national myth. No jurisdiction follows dogs from birth to death. Even in states with digital tracking systems, dogs vanish once handed to third parties or exported overseas.
The Deadly Overseas Rehoming Program
The overseas rehoming of greyhounds is an inappropriate and dangerous solution to the industry-created rehoming crisis.
Greyhounds have died in transit and many are languishing in overseas kennels rather than Australian homes. Greyhounds are also sent to the US to serve as PTSD companion animals after only a few weeks of training. According to Assistance Dogs Australia, this sort of training normally takes around two years.
There is a lack of input from animal welfare organisations and no external auditing of the program.
It is impossible to know how many of these dogs actually end up being adopted into homes as the industry does not provide these details.
Exploited, Mistreated and Discarded
Many greyhounds are owned by syndicates who never meet the dog. They are purchased purely as an opportunity to profit from gambling. The dogs then reside with trainers who are often in charge of numerous dogs.
Most racing dogs are retired by the time they’re five years old. As the RSPCA points out, many dogs spend their whole racing lives in small, barren kennels, never coming inside and certainly not treated as a companion animal.
For many of them if they’re kept by their owner after retirement, this is the life they will have forever.
Across Australia around 70% of greyhounds are discarded by their owners when they no longer make money.
Due to lack of whole-of-life tracking, some of these dogs will end up dumped at pounds or animal shelters.
Breeding Caps are Essential
The Australian greyhound racing industry is currently breeding twice as many greyhounds as it can rehome. This has led to a greyhound rehoming crisis across Australia.
The NSW industry regulator highlighted this issue stating that in NSW in FY21/22, there were an estimated 1352 rehoming places available for the approximately 4719 greyhounds who needed homes.
The only way to address this crisis is to introduce breeding caps which state governments and the racing industry refuse to consider.
Learn More About the Rehoming Crisis
