Greyhound racing in New Zealand
The first hares were brought to New Zealand in 1868 as hunting quarry but a gestation period of around 40 days resulted in problems for farmers and British greyhounds were imported to help control them.
[12] Legislation was passed through all stages under urgency that day, with unanimous support, to prevent any unnecessary killing of racing dogs as the result of the announcement.
The lack of transparency, along with reported levels of euthanasia, led the review team to consider the current situation “not sustainable”.
[30] In 2014, Greyhound Racing New Zealand (GRNZ) stopped making its injury statistics publicly available because it claimed its critics were using them to "manipulate the facts".
[32] In 2017, after GRNZ did not resume regular progress reporting as requested by Associate Agriculture Minister Meka Whaitiri, a second review was commissioned by the New Zealand Racing Board, led by former High Court Judge Rodney Hansen.
[34] Hansen concluded that improvements had been made since 2013 but “have been insufficient to right the structural imbalance.” [35] In December 2017, New Zealand’s Minister for Racing Hon Winston Peters, said the reports findings were “disturbing and deeply disappointing”[36] and “simply unacceptable”.
In response, the government requested that the greyhound racing industry continue to implement the Hansen recommendations and invited the NZGRA to update them on their progress[38] In June 2020 GRNZ submitted a final report to Rt Hon Winston Peters, declaring all recommendations successfully implemented, and that they would no longer be reporting progress.
[42] In June 2021 researchers at the University of Auckland published a study report finding many ex-racing greyhounds poorly equipped for rehoming.
The cross-party petitions committee concluded its response by stating "We have doubts about whether the greyhound racing industry still has a social license to operate in its current form.
Grant Robertson asked the Racing Integrity Board to assess the industry's progress against specific indicators, and report back before the end of 2022.
He stated “I want to be clear today – the greyhound racing industry is on notice: either make the improvements needed or risk closure”.
[47] On 13 May 2022, a third Newshub report found that Kevin Brady, a director on the board of GRNZ and the Racing Industry Unit, was co-owner of a greyhound that tested positive for methamphetamine.
[48] In August 2022, Newstalk ZB reported that Racing Integrity Board inspectors had found 15 greyhounds in "squalid" and "inexcusable" conditions.
[49] In October 2022 Camorra Research Ltd delivered an independent review commissioned by the RNZSPCA, to analyse public opinion towards commercial greyhound racing among the New Zealand population.
[51] The Racing Integrity Board review finds improvement in ten out of fifteen areas, and concludes that progress is mixed and has not always met the RIB's expectations.
