Greyhound Racing in Australia: The Facts, and How Your Necklace Helps

If you've ever shared your home with a greyhound, you'll know: they are the gentlest, silliest, most sofa-devoted dogs you'll ever meet. My own girl, Sophie (Shnoots to her friends), spends about eighteen hours a day asleep, usually upside down, and the other six politely asking for snacks.

It's hard to imagine her anywhere near a race track. But for thousands of greyhounds across Australia, that is still the only life they're bred for.

Greyhound racing in Australia: the facts

Greyhound racing remains legal in most of Australia. Here is what the numbers show:

• 119 greyhounds died on Australian race tracks in 2025, according to the Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds (ABC News).
• 314 greyhounds were euthanised after racing injuries in 2023: 120 at the track, and 194 more in the days and weeks that followed. Researchers found many were put down just two to three days after being injured (ABC News).
• 10,178 greyhound puppies were bred to race in a single year (2023), and 46 tracks still operate across six states (GREY2K USA Worldwide).
• $8.3 billion was gambled on greyhound racing in 2023 (GREY2K USA Worldwide).

Behind every one of those numbers is a dog like Sophie: soft-eared, nervous of loud noises, desperate for a warm bed. Racing asks them to sprint at up to 70km/h around tight, sandy bends, where collisions, falls and broken legs are a routine part of race day. When they're no longer fast enough, they become surplus.

The tide is turning

The good news is that things are changing. The ACT legislated an end to greyhound racing in 2018. New Zealand's Parliament voted 112 to 11 to ban it, and commercial racing there ended on 31 July 2026 (SPCA New Zealand). Tasmania has committed to phasing it out by 2029 (Animals Australia).

And most of us agree: a 2022 national survey found 57% of Australians support ending greyhound racing (GREY2K USA Worldwide).

But in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, the dogs are still racing, with no end date in sight.

Where rescues come in

Until racing ends, it's volunteer-run rescues that pick up the pieces. Most retired racers have never lived in a house. They've never climbed stairs, seen their reflection or slept on something soft. Rescues take them in, pay for their vet care, and give them time in a foster home to learn what it means to be a pet, before matching them with a family of their own.

That's why we support two Victorian rescues we love:

Greyt Greys Rescue is a volunteer-run, non-profit charity dedicated to the rescue of ex-racing greyhounds. Every hound in their program is cared for by volunteers in a home environment, so they're ready for life in their forever home.

Amazing Greys has been rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming ex-racing greyhounds across Melbourne and rural Victoria since 2011. They have no kennels: every greyhound lives in a loving foster home until they're adopted.

How your necklace helps

The Greyhound Rescue Necklace was drawn from life, in Sophie's image: the arch of her back, the long nose, that ridiculous elegance. For every necklace sold through maraux.com.au, $10 goes to Greyt Greys Rescue and Amazing Greys.

We keep a live tally of every dollar, updated automatically as necklaces sell. You can see it, along with more about the realities of greyhound racing, on our Greyhound Rescue page.

Whether you wear it for the hound asleep on your sofa, the one you're fostering, or the one waiting at the rainbow bridge, every necklace helps another greyhound get off the track and into a home.

With love, from Katy and Sophie ♡

Shop the Greyhound Rescue Necklace