Greyhound racing has been part of British entertainment since 1926, when the first commercial track opened in Greater Manchester. Today, 20 tracks remain in operation across the United Kingdom. The Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) regulates 18 licensed tracks in England and Wales, while two tracks in Northern Ireland fall under the separate oversight of the Irish Coursing Club. The industry exists largely to supply betting content: between 2021 and 2024, dogs ran between 355,000 and 365,000 races per year, primarily to fulfill livestreaming contracts — the biggest audience for greyhound racing.

The purpose of this report, produced by the non-profit organizations GREY2K USA Worldwide and The League Against Cruel Sports, is to document the state of racing greyhound welfare in the U.K. and make the case that the industry can’t be meaningfully reformed — only ended.

The author drew on a variety of sources, including:

• Injury and retirement data published by the GBGB;
• A 2023 assessment by the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission (SAWC);
• A joint report by Dogs Trust and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA);
• Undercover media investigations;
• A 2024 study of independent rescue organizations;
• Economic analyses from BiGGAR Economics and Oliver & Ohlbaum Associates; and
• Public polling commissioned from Panelbase.

Injuries, Deaths, And A Broken Reporting System

Between 2017 and 2024, more than 35,000 greyhound injuries were reported, including 1,353 track fatalities. An additional 3,278 greyhounds were killed for reasons such as high treatment costs or poor adoption prospects.

The GBGB publishes injury figures as a share of total “dog runs” — a metric that counts each individual dog many times over, systematically deflating the apparent injury rate. Using the GBGB’s own population figures, SAWC calculated that greyhounds faced a 24% annual injury risk in 2021. Over three years, this cumulative risk rises to more than 56%. Because the GBGB doesn’t collect data on training injuries, the true figure is likely higher.

The oval track design is a central cause of injury. Dogs who run counterclockwise experience uneven physical stress on their left front leg and right hind leg, leading to long-term anatomical adaptations and increased vulnerability. Centrifugal force pulls greyhounds toward the outer fence at speed, causing hard falls, while congestion at the bends — where dogs slow to follow the lure — leads to collisions. An Australian study found that approximately 80% of all catastrophic and major injuries were caused by this bunching-up tendency.

Kennel Conditions And Overbreeding

Greyhounds reportedly spend up to 95% of their lives in kennels, not in homes. SAWC investigators observed barren kennels with only wood shavings for bedding and no enrichment, and documented dogs with visible fur loss from rubbing against wire cage mesh. Dogs surrendered for adoption frequently arrived underweight, with poor dental health, and without any veterinary records — suggesting that once a dog’s racing career ends, the industry provides little follow-up care.

About 83% of greyhounds racing in the U.K. are bred in Ireland, where approximately 6,000 greyhounds are killed each year for not being fast enough to race. Roughly 6,250 surviving greyhounds are exported to the U.K. annually. By the time a dog reaches 3.5 years old, 50% of registered greyhounds have already left the industry. Greyhounds can live up to 14 years, meaning the charity sector — not the racing industry — absorbs most post-racing care costs. The Retired Greyhound Trust (RGT), the industry’s primary adoption body, spent an average of £1,625 per dog in 2023, yet the GBGB’s contribution covered only about 25% of that. Rescue organizations reported an average waiting list of 30 greyhounds with a three-month wait for space to open.

Drug Use And Regulatory Failure

Based on 2021 data, drug testing covers only about 4% of greyhounds despite hundreds of thousands of annual races. Hundreds of positive tests have been documented for substances including anabolic steroids, barbiturates, morphine, and even cocaine. A 2024 investigation revealed widespread illegal use of a hormone to suppress female dogs’ reproductive cycles, allowing them to race longer by bypassing rules that would otherwise bar them while they’re in heat.

The GBGB’s 2022 welfare strategy, “A Good Life for Every Greyhound,” was independently assessed by SAWC as unlikely to have meaningful impact. More than half of its welfare goals were unfunded, and its approach — attempting to adapt dogs to the stressors of racing through breeding rather than changing the racing environment — was criticized as fundamentally backwards. In September 2022, the RSPCA and Dogs Trust withdrew from the Greyhound Forum after years of welfare recommendations being dismissed or ignored.

A Way Forward

The report notes that Scotland and Wales have passed legislation to ban greyhound racing, with both bills receiving overwhelming parliamentary support in March 2026. Polling in both nations showed majority support for a ban.

Repurposed track sites have the potential to generate substantially greater economic benefit than the racing industry itself. Economic analysis of Thornton Stadium in Scotland found that the track contributed less than one full-time job’s worth of economic value to County Fife. Housing development on the same land would generate millions in construction impact and ongoing council tax revenue.

There are some limitations to note about this report. Its reliance on GBGB-published data means the true scale of harm may be underestimated. Furthermore, the main economic analysis draws on just a single case study.

For animal advocates, the central takeaway is that the harm documented here is structural. No amount of improved kennel inspections or drug testing can eliminate the injury risk built into oval-track racing, the overbreeding crisis driven by a multinational supply chain, or the adoption burden offloaded onto underfunded charities. The evidence strongly supports the conclusion that protecting greyhounds requires ending the industry, not reforming it. Scotland and Wales have demonstrated that this is politically achievable when welfare evidence is presented clearly to lawmakers and the public. Advocates working in England and Northern Ireland have a clear model to follow — and a growing cross-party coalition already in place to build from.

This summary was drafted by a large language model (LLM) and closely edited by our Research Library Manager for clarity and accuracy. As per our AI policy, Faunalytics only uses LLMs to summarize very long reports (50+ pages) that are not appropriate to assign to volunteers, as well as studies that contain graphic descriptions of animal cruelty or animal industries. We remain committed to bringing you reliable data, which is why any AI-generated work will always be reviewed by a human.