The Greyhound Board of Great Britain is doing a good job. There are no grounds to force the greyhound industry to give up its self-regulation role. The Government has no ambition to ban greyhound racing.

These are the key decisions made from the initial findings of the Review of the Welfare of Racing Greyhound Regulations 2010.

The review, followed by a consultation period, was scheduled to take place five years after the introduction to the Animal Welfare Act and is designed to monitor whether the legislation was achieving its aims.

DEFRA collated their own research and employed GfK to carry out its own independent analysis.

The report’s final conclusion reads as follow:

 

‘We are not consulting on whether greyhound racing should be banned. The Government does not believe that the problems identified in the initial findings are insurmountable. The Government has no plans to ban greyhound racing. Neither has the government any plans to set up its own statutory regulatory body. Introducing a new body may well require primary legislation and certainly public funding. Due to the relatively small number of tracks and the steps that have already been, and are being, taken by the industry we do not believe that it would be proportionate to introduce a new statutory body and we are not consulting on that as an option in this consultation.’

 

DEFRA is currently taking feedback on its report with a consultation period due to run until the end of the year.

In preparation, senior industry figures are believed to be putting additional safeguards in place to negate the most significant concerns in the report. These include:

  • The creation of more stringent kennel inspection regulations, which will be incorporated within the rules of racing within two years.
  • The publication of injury data from race and trial sessions. (The report actually contains RCPA figures showing serious injury rates of between 0.12% and 0.15% over the past five years.)
  • The publication of the fate of every greyhound at the conclusion of its racing career. At that point, it becomes subject to the Animal Welfare Bill, the same as pet dogs.

Despite the anticipated changes, the DEFRA report will be greeted with a mixture of satisfaction and relief among the majority of industry participants.

As one racecourse promoter put it: “We can determine our own fate and not be told what to do by people who don’t understand our industry. Self regulation is working and DEFRA have acknowledged it.”