Greyhound racing is associated with significant welfare concerns including high injury rates, culling of non-competitive dogs, and the abandonment or euthanasia of retired greyhounds. The industry faces growing pressure for reform or abolition in many countries.
Greyhound racing imposes welfare costs at multiple points in the animal's life cycle. Selective breeding produces large numbers of dogs of which only a fraction achieve racing fitness, raising questions about the fate of the rest. Racing itself involves high injury rates from the physical demands of competitive racing on hard tracks. Retirement from racing, which typically occurs at 2-5 years of age, creates a large population of young dogs requiring rehoming — a demand that adoption programmes have increasingly met, but that historically included culling as a common outcome. Export of racing greyhounds to jurisdictions with lower welfare standards has been an additional concern. Consumer and political pressure has driven improvements in some markets, but the fundamental welfare costs of the sport remain significant and are driving calls for abolition in several countries.