Charter flights to bring about 150 greyhounds to Australia as NZ racing ban begins

Chartered flights will ferry up to 150 greyhounds to Australia as trainers pivot from a racing ban coming into effect in New Zealand.

The ban, which was first announced in December 2024 and legislated in April this year, took effect on Saturday after years of animal welfare concerns.

Ten greyhounds were euthanised during New Zealand’s final racing season, including one days before the ban began.

Heather Simpson, the Greyhound Transition Agency (GTA) head, said she was aware that Greyhound Racing New Zealand had organised charter flights for about 150 dogs to go to Australia to continue racing.

“There is nothing in the legislation that stops trainers choosing to export their dogs to Australia; some of these dogs actually will be partly owned by Australians,” she told Radio New Zealand.

Greyhound racing remains legal in most Australian jurisdictions, banned only in the Australian Capital Territory.

Plans for an industry phase-out in Tasmania have stalled after the government pulled a bill from the upper house in April when it appeared not to have enough support to pass.

Word of the chartered flights first emerged through a leaked message from a private greyhound racing group, Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi told a Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee hearing in April.

She said the move appeared “to be kind of a deliberate attempt to avoid” New Zealand’s transition agency.

“If they survive, they will become the responsibility of Australians to rehome,” she said.

“And you would know we’re already in a rehoming crisis.”

Brant Smith, a senior biosecurity executive at the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, told the senate hearing the government had been working with New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries on the dogs’ import.

He said they would be classed as “companion animals”, but may be used for racing once in the country.

“As to how they are then used, that’s not something that we have control over thereafter because they’re being imported as companion animals like other animals … and this is not unusual,” he said.

Mr Smith said a similar contingent of greyhounds was imported to Australia in April 2025.

“In the previous consignment, I think approximately 80 came similarly, and they were just imported under our normal conditions,” he said.

It is estimated a further 1,400 dogs will remain in New Zealand and require rehoming by the GTA.

Ms Simpson said the rehomed dogs would be regularly checked under a welfare program.