The Final Lap: As New Zealand Bans Greyhound Racing, a Trans-Tasman Exodus Begins

The skies above the Tasman Sea are currently playing host to an unusual exodus, one that marks the end of an era for New Zealand sports and highlights a stark regulatory divide with its closest neighbor. As New Zealand's comprehensive ban on commercial greyhound racing officially takes effect, an orchestrated migration is underway. 

New Zealand has outlawed greyhound racing, but neighbouring Australia has not. (Photo: Phil Walter/Getty Images)

At least two chartered flights carrying up to 150 racing hounds are bound for Australia's eastern states, subsidized by Greyhound Racing New Zealand (GRNZ) in what government officials are characterizing as the desperate final maneuvers of a collapsing enterprise. This cross-border relocation not only underscores the deep cultural and economic rifts regarding animal welfare but also exposes the immense complexities of navigating international biosecurity laws.

The catalyst for this canine migration is a legislative hammer that finally fell after more than a decade of intense scrutiny. Triggered by three damning independent reviews in 2013, 2017, and 2021, the New Zealand government determined that the sport had fundamentally lost its social license to operate. Despite industry protests and claims of improved safety protocols, authorities concluded that injury and mortality rates among the dogs remained unacceptably high. 

Winston Peters, New Zealand’s Racing Minister, has been uncompromising in his assessment, with his office dismissing the trans-Tasman relocation of these dogs as the "last gasp actions of a dying industry." While GRNZ chief executive Edward Rennell vehemently defends the sport's welfare standards as the highest of any racing code in the country, the reality is that the tracks are closing, leaving approximately 1,400 New Zealand greyhounds slated for retirement and domestic rehoming over the next two years.

For the small contingent of six to ten trainers unwilling to abandon their livelihoods, Australia represents one of the last global sanctuaries for professional dog racing. The economic disparity between the two nations' racing sectors is staggering and deeply alluring to those being pushed out. While New Zealand's industry generated a modest $147 million, the greyhound racing economies of Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria boast a collective valuation approaching A$2 billion.

Drawn by state-of-the-art facilities and a deeply entrenched betting culture—which New Zealanders can still legally access online—these trainers are utilizing a highly functional regulatory loophole. Under Australian import requirements, the arriving greyhounds are processed simply as "companion animals," subject only to standard biosecurity and disease screenings, such as rabies, rather than scrutiny over their intended commercial use. This administrative classification already facilitated the quiet export of 80 dogs to Queensland earlier in 2025, paving the way for the current influx.

However, this regulatory refuge masks a severe and escalating animal welfare crisis within Australia's own borders. Animal rights advocates and lawmakers, including Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi, have voiced deep alarm over the unhindered importation of racing dogs into a system that is already buckling under its own weight. Australia is currently grappling with a massive domestic rehoming bottleneck, with the Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds reporting thousands of retired dogs languishing in wait, including an estimated 4,100 in New South Wales alone. 

The saturation is so profound that the Australian racing industry has resorted to exporting more than 2,000 retired greyhounds across the Pacific to the United States and Canada just to alleviate the overflow. Pumping dozens of aging New Zealand competitors—dogs that have largely paused breeding and training for 18 months and are therefore likely to be less competitive—into this overloaded system strikes critics as both irresponsible and inherently short-sighted.

Ultimately, the flight of New Zealand’s greyhounds is less a viable long-term survival strategy and more a temporary evasion of an undeniable global trend. The sport is facing a worldwide legislative reckoning. This year alone, Scotland and Wales passed legislation outlawing commercial dog racing, and the Australian Capital Territory has already instituted a ban, with Tasmania mapping out a phase-out plan. In the United States, once a global hub for the sport, state-level bans have hollowed out the industry, leaving merely two active tracks in West Virginia. 

As the final starting boxes open in New Zealand, the trainers fleeing to Australia are racing against a ticking clock. The trans-Tasman exodus may grant a few hounds and handlers a brief reprieve, but it ultimately underscores a stark reality: the finish line for global greyhound racing is rapidly approaching, and no amount of chartered flights can outpace shifting societal values.

 

Tyler A. Nguyen (via BBC News)