Concerns Raised Over Greyhound Welfare as Racing Marks 100 Years in Britain

The Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) has recently released its 2025 welfare figures, asserting that licensed racing “maintains high welfare standards.” However, a closer examination reveals troubling statistics: in 2025, the likelihood of a greyhound dying at the racetrack—due to fatal injuries or being put down—was 77% higher than at the inception of the welfare strategy in 2022. Despite a decrease in the number of races and tracks, this increase translates to 161 dogs dying at the track that year, averaging more than three per week.

The GBGB is both the promoter and regulator of greyhound racing, raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest in how welfare standards are reported. Public perception suggests a moral obligation to prevent poor welfare in animals used for entertainment, and greyhound racing's future may hinge on upholding public approval.

In October 2025, the UK government announced there are no plans to ban greyhound racing, noting improvements under the GBGB's welfare strategy and existing legislation requiring veterinary oversight at race meetings.

UK law acknowledges dogs as sentient beings, implying a responsibility to ensure not only their welfare but also their quality of life. The GBGB publishes annual injury and mortality data, which it presents to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. However, this aggregated data may not capture the full extent of welfare issues. Research utilizing AI and public data has shown deeper insights into the lives of 31,028 dogs across 1.27 million races from January 2022 to March 2026.

The dataset revealed that racing appears balanced in gender representation, with the majority of dogs being black, and they typically begin racing before the age of two. Individual stories illustrate their experiences; for instance, a black male dog, bred in Ireland, raced 15 times but faced considerable challenges, culminating in his last race in August 2023 after only five months of racing.

The research indicates that certain racetracks report serious incidents far more frequently than others, an issue not reflected in the national data, despite government inquiries into it. Importantly, 85% of racing dogs are bred in the Republic of Ireland, where the GBGB has no regulatory control, raising concerns about breeding practices and the welfare of dogs that leave racing.

After exiting the racing industry, nearly 95% of dogs are no longer subject to public reporting, contributing to a lack of visibility regarding their post-racing lives. A July 2026 report by Blue Cross, Dogs Trust, Hope Rescue, and the RSPCA identified systemic welfare issues, including harmful breeding practices and health problems that persist after racing.

Recent decisions in New Zealand, Wales, Scotland, and other jurisdictions to end greyhound racing based on animal welfare considerations signal a shift in societal attitudes. The reliability of industry-provided statistics is increasingly questioned, prompting a call for independent data collection for a more comprehensive understanding of greyhound welfare.

Key considerations for evaluating welfare claims include the transparency of data sources, the motivations behind data collection, and whether the data effectively represents animal lives.

In response, a spokesperson for the GBGB stated that they are the sole organization with access to comprehensive data on injuries and fatalities in licensed greyhound racing, which is published annually.