100 years greyhound racing
Is dog racing a sport or animal cruelty?
The history of commercial dog racing in Great Britain began on July 24, 1926. A century later, attendance figures are dwindling and ethical concerns are mounting. Animal rights activists are demanding a ban.
Since I’m still in Oxfordshire, England, I’ll take advantage of that tomorrow to drive to Manchester, about a three-hour drive away—the place where, a hundred years ago, a greyhound named Mistley—who, according to legend, had a reddish coat—won the very first commercial dog race at Belle Vu Stadium. The event marked the beginning of dog racing as a sport, in which dogs chase a mechanical decoy hare on oval tracks—a practice previously known only in the United States.
Tomorrow, July 25, 2026, animal rights activists will demonstrate in Manchester and London to call for a ban on these dog races and for the closure of the remaining 18 racetracks. At the height of greyhound racing in the 1920s and 1930s, there were more than 200 racetracks in the United Kingdom. They attracted up to 16 million visitors annually.
Animal rights advocates have had reservations about commercial dog racing for as long as the sport has existed. Over the decades, activists have succeeded in prompting a reevaluation of the industry through their public awareness efforts. The organization Greyt Exploitations, documents on the website the most well-known examples of accidents at racetracks and the “disposal” of dogs in the early 2000s.
A current deady accident happen
Dog racing on June 4 in Towcester, England. Six greyhounds chase after a mechanical decoy rabbit on the oval track.
Dog racing has been practiced commercially as a sport in the United Kingdom for a hundred years now. “95 percent of the dogs in this country come from Irland,” says Nathan Corden in the 2025 documentary “Going to the Dogs.” Corden organizes auctions where greyhounds can be bought and sold.
In Ireland, the industry even receives government funding—about 20 million euros annually. The money goes to the semi-governmental Irish Greyhound Racing Association, which manages the racetracks, including betting operations and prize money—and is also supposed to ensure the dogs’ welfare. Yet animal rights activists repeatedly complain about cruel practices. The majority of the public also opposes dog racing, says Nuala Donlon of Greyhound Action Ireland. “There are essential public services that are grossly underfunded, and people are on waiting lists for years to get medical treatment. It is about more than animal welfare: It is a waste of public money”.
The government’s financial injection tempts the industry to consistently breed beyond what is needed. Only the strongest from each litter are allowed to survive. Dogs that are not—or are no longer—fit enough to win prize money are often euthanized, shot—or they simply disappear. A report commissioned by the Greyhound Racing Association itself—but then shelved—estimated the number of these dogs at around 6,000 per year. This was uncovered by the Irish television station RTÉ One in their investigative documentary “Running for their Lives” of 2019. The industry vowed to improve. But that’s far from the truth, says activist Nuala Donlon:
“At 12 weeks of age they get micro-chipped by the Irish Coursing Club since 2021. Our analysis of the system shows us that the dogs are still dying at the same rate: 41 per cent in the original report - and 40 per cent in the new analysis that the exact same author has been carrying out for my organisation, Greyhound Action Ireland.”
In the United Kingdom, there is no government funding, yet the industry faces criticism there as well. In the documentary “Going to the Dogs,” Mark Bird, the CEO of the Greyhound Board of Great Britain, defends the industry: “2,000 greyhounds died within a four-year period – the facts tell us that this is correct. But dogs die of natural causes, sudden deaths and other things as well.” If a dog does get injured, pledges Bird, it is being cared for, and after it’s been recuperated, “it’s gonna leave the sport and become someone’s pet or it’s gonna continue racing.”
However, the number of retired greyhounds far exceeds the number of available adoption homes. At the same time, attendance figures and betting revenue are both declining. Since 2025, five more racetracks have closed. What sounds like good news for the dogs could backfire, says Rita Jones of the organization “Campaign Against the Exploitation and Killing of Greyhounds,” or CAGED for short “If it’s less money to be made because the demand and the value of the dogs drop, then they will be selling them abroad even more than they are doing now”.
The main destination countries are China and Pakistan, where animal welfare laws are virtually nonexistent. There, the dogs are forced to keep racing or, as animal rights activists criticize, are used as breeding machines. Their final destination is often the meat market.
British animal rights activist Kerry Hill, founder and CEO of Candy’s Hound Rescue, regularly travels to China to buy dogs from kennels and slaughterhouses, or from their abusive owners. Chinese animal rights activists leak to her videos they secretly recorded. “I saw images of greyhounds racing on the tracks, and when they lose the race, they get slammed to the floor, or stabbed with swords and axes”. She has seen a video, recalls Hill, where a greyhound who lost a race, got hit over the head with a hammer. In the 2019 documentary of Irish RTÉ One,
Australia, which is also a greyhound racing nation, has banned the export of greyhounds to Asia, and the Australian airline Qantas and Air New Zealand refuse to transport racing dogs. However, Kerry Hill has learned that the animals are then shipped via a third country and declared as pets.
Animal rights activists are therefore calling for a global ban on the export of greyhounds. In Ireland, they argue, there must also be an end to government subsidies, which cover almost exactly the industry’s losses. Without them, dog breeding would hardly be profitable. And that would likely spell the end of commercial dog racing in the United Kingdom as well, sooner or later.
PS: British Wales and New Zealand will abolish commercial greyhound racing in 2027.
This text is, for the most part, a transcript of my radio report that you can listen to on my German website; I extended and translated it. Unfortunately, the length limit for my radio report didn’t allow me to include Kerry Hill as well. However, I’m currently editing my interview with her and will post it as soon as possible.