This was no photo finish situation: the House had voted unanimously to end dog racing in previous votes, and at Thursday’s final reading only Act New Zealand opposed the ban, which passed 112-11. From August 1, 78 years of dog racing as we know it will come to an end. There have been improvements, and innovations such as the opening of country’s first straight line track — deemed safer than the dogs racing around the traditional oval — have been tried. Mr Peters said that closing the greyhound industry was not an action which had been taken lightly, but that welfare concerns were irrefutable. It is not as if New Zealand will be an outlier in bringing in a ban: Wales, Scotland, and Tasmania are also moving to close commercial greyhound racing.

Source: Otago Daily Times April 05, 2026 17:37 UTC