PGRWB 11 Cut the Chase Coalition

Pwyllgor Diwylliant, Cyfathrebu, y Gymraeg, Chwaraeon, a Chysylltiadau Rhyngwladol | Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee

Bil Gwahardd Rasio Milgwn (Cymru) | Prohibition of Greyhound Racing (Wales) Bill

About Cut the Chase

The Cut the Chase Coalition comprises Blue Cross, Dogs Trust, Greyhound Rescue Wales, Hope Rescue and the RSPCA. Our coalition has been working towards an end to greyhound racing in Wales since 2022 to protect the relevant dogs from injury and death. However, as individual members, we have been working for many years to improve the welfare of racing greyhounds in Wales.

As a coalition, we very much welcome the legislation as it brings us ever closer to ending greyhound racing in Wales. In its current form, the Bill will prohibit the commercial racing of greyhounds while also preventing the training and trialling of greyhounds for racing purposes at stadiums and other similar venues. This is particularly positive as it prevents greyhounds from being schooled in Wales.

We also welcome the opportunity to submit evidence to the Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee’s consultation on the prohibition of greyhound racing in Wales. The information enclosed in this response provides an overview of the changes that we would like to see to the proposed legislation ensuring the welfare of greyhounds in Wales is safeguarded.

The general principles of the Prohibition of Greyhound Racing (Wales) Bill and whether there is a need for legislation to deliver the Bill’s stated policy objective, which is to prohibit greyhound racing in Wales.

The Cut the Chase Coalition agrees with the general principles of the Bill and that there is a clear need for legislation to deliver the Bill’s stated policy objective to prohibit greyhound racing in Wales. We have significant welfare concerns for racing greyhounds throughout their lives and when their racing career ends.

There are a myriad of welfare issues reported to affect greyhounds at every stage of their life cycle. To give some examples, these include inadequate socialisation and habituation of puppies as well as tattooing of puppies for identification during rearing, poor environments during schooling, trialling and racing, inappropriate transportation at all stages, presence of dental disease and impacts of extreme weather.

While the proposed legislation is focused on greyhound racing in Wales where dogs are typically racing or leaving the industry, it will also impact upon trialling and schooling which also pose welfare issues which cannot be ignored.

The inherent danger to the dogs by participating in greyhound racing GBGB’s own figures show that over 4,000 greyhounds died and over 35,000 injuries were recorded as a result of licensed greyhound racing between 2018 and 2024, with additional dogs injured on independent tracks.

·         Significant welfare challenges for greyhounds at all stages of the dogs’ lives, including during their racing career and once their career is over.

• Some of the dogs used in racing are kept in poor, barren conditions, with little if any enrichment and fed a poor diet.
• The general health of dogs including the number and severity of injuries sustained during racing.
• Disjointed and ineffective regulation within the sector and across the different nations within which racing takes place
• A lack of transparency regarding industry practices and enforcement of regulatory standards, including records of racetrack injuries to greyhounds and checks for banned substances.
• An inconsistent and inadequate funding stream

Focusing on racing itself, the industry’s own statistics provide the most reliable evidence as to the inherent risk of injury and death posed and why an end to greyhound racing is the only way to safeguard their welfare. According to the latest statistics from GBGB, published in June 2025, 346 dogs involved in racing died for reasons other than natural causes/illness in 2024, while 3,809 injuries were also recorded.[1] For the first time since the publication of these statistics began, the number of track fatalities increased, with 123 dogs having died at tracks licensed by GBGB - up from 109 the previous year.[2] While this data covers tracks in both Wales and England - with GBGB regulating 19 at present - they are the first set of statistics that cover a full year of racing at the Valley Greyhound Stadium in Ystrad Mynach which became regulated by GBGB in 2023.[3][4] Although it is worth noting that where data is provided by the industry, e.g. injury, death and rehoming figures, there has been a change in the categories used to compile annual statistics which makes comparisons of change or progress over multiple years very challenging. This clearly demonstrates a lack of transparency from the industry when it comes to the publication of these statistics.

We also know from Hope Rescue’s Amazing Greys report prior to the Valley Stadium being licensed by GBGB, between 2018 and 2021, that the Amazing Greys project helped over 200 racing greyhounds whose owners and/or trainers had links with the Valley racetrack. Of these dogs, 40 endured serious, career ending injuries such as severe fractures needing significant veterinary treatment, amputation or orthopaedic repair.[5] There also was significant evidence gathered by organisations submitting evidence to the Senedd’s Petitions Committee in 2022 following its consultation seeking views on a ban on greyhound racing in Wales. The petition and the respective consultation collated data and evidence of poor welfare within greyhound racing.[6] These different sources of evidence and case studies within Amazing Greys provide irrefutable evidence of poor welfare within greyhound racing and that racing around oval tracks at speeds of around 40mph is inherently dangerous, with serious consequences for dog welfare.

The terms used in the Bill, whether defined or not. In particular, are they workable and will they deliver the stated policy intention.

The Cut the Chase Coalition believes in its current form, the Bill will prohibit the commercial racing of greyhounds around tracks at stadiums and similar venues while, by definition, also outlawing training and trialling of greyhounds around tracks for racing purposes as this is also classed as ‘greyhound racing’.

This is particularly positive as the schooling of greyhounds around tracks for racing purposes carries the same inherent risks as racing on a commercial basis. The proposed legislation currently covers the operator or track/similar venue and any persons involved in organising greyhound racing. To mitigate any unintended consequences that could arise such as the facilitation of illegal racing, it is highly important that the legislation is applicable to individuals as well as track operators/owners and that this is specified in the Explanatory Memorandum. This would help ensure that the offence is a deterrent to everyone involved, not just the organisers.

Positively, the passing of this Bill in 2026 could see racing end in Wales by the 1st of April 2027 and our coalition is highly supportive of such action. However, in its current form, its provisions may also see greyhound racing continue here until April 2030. We do not believe that such a long timeframe is necessary as demonstrated through the work of the Wales Greyhound Partnership (WGP).

The WGP comprises nine animal welfare organisations - including our coalition’s members - and at this current time has the capacity to rehome up to 258 dogs, over an average of a two month period.[7] As we are actively preparing to rehome the dogs affected, we question whether such a long timeframe will be necessary and look forward to working with the Implementation Group to deliver an end to greyhound racing sooner rather than later.

With an average length of time for rehoming of about two months and 120 dogs rehomed since its conception this year, the Partnership has clearly demonstrated that it is highly possible to rehome dogs affected by the ban in a much shorter time period than the legislation would allow for.[8] Furthermore, this window is much greater than that provided for other tracks closed by the industry. For example, the closure of Swindon was announced in March 2025, with racing to cease at the end of December 2025.[9]

Any potential barriers to the implementation of the Bill’s provisions, and whether the Bill and accompanying Explanatory Memorandum and Regulatory Impact Assessment take adequate account of them.

We believe there are no barriers to the implementation within the Bill’s provisions or other documents outlined in the questions. The only concern the Coalition has is that the Bill only makes organisers and operators liable for offences under the Bill which could prove difficult to determine. A possible solution, as is the case for hare coursing, could be to extend the offence to participants, attendees or facilitators which would include owners and trainers.

Whether there are any unintended consequences arising from the Bill.

The Cut the Chase Coalition believes that this Bill will prohibit greyhound racing and deliver positive changes to the welfare of racing greyhounds. We are proud that Wales will be the first UK nation to prohibit greyhound racing. We believe it is too early to be able to judge whether this Bill has unintended consequences but we have a unique opportunity to review the legislation, as set out in the Explanatory Memorandum, no later than five years after it is implemented, this will provide the opportunity to tweak the legislation if needed to fix any unintended consequences. However, it is important that any review conducted has means of collecting data on the impacts of the legislation, such as number of dogs rehomed, and the number of convictions under the new legislation - between the implementation date and review.

The Welsh Government’s assessment of the financial and other impacts of the Bill as set out in Part 2 of the Explanatory Memorandum.

The Coalition agrees with the Welsh Government’s assessment of the Financial and other impacts of the Bill as set out in Part two of the Explanatory Memorandum. We do not see any long term implications on the Welsh Government and Local Authorities who will be enforcing the legislation, as Wales only has one track based in Caerphilly County Borough Council. No other venue will have the appropriate facilities or equipment to host and organise an event.

We also agree with the Welsh Government’s assessment, given during the Ministerial evidence session to the Committee in October 2025, that it would be very obvious if someone was organising an illicit race. This is because of the size of greyhound racing tracks ranging between 300-1,000 yards, the infrastructure needed to facilitate a similar experience would be highly difficult to replicate on an illegal basis. We also know that the Greyhound racing industry depends on income generated through live streaming for the purposes of gambling, which they will be unable to do, when the “sport” is prohibited. This means it would not be feasible to put in place the infrastructure required for live streaming for illicit racing which removes the commercial incentive racing - making it unviable and not worth the risk.

The appropriateness of the power in the Bill for Welsh Ministers to make subordinate legislation (as set out in Part 1: Chapter 5 of the Explanatory Memorandum).

Matters relating to the competence of the Senedd including compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Cut the Chase is focused on animal welfare and we do not take a view on this question.

The balance between the information contained on the face of the Bill and what is left to subordinate legislation.

Cut the Chase is focused on animal welfare and we do not take a view on this question.

Any matter related to the quality of the legislation.

We believe that this legislation will deliver its stated aim of ending greyhound racing in Wales, which is hugely welcome as a positive step forward for the welfare of racing greyhounds. As a Coalition we are very happy with the quality of this legislation. It is obvious to us that the Bill’s drafting team has consulted with other nations within the UK, namely Scotland, and has built upon this piece of legislation to deliver an effective end to greyhound racing in Wales as outlined by the Deputy First Minister for Wales and Civil Servants in Wales in the Ministerial evidence session held by the Committee in October 2025.

Also if we look internationally, we can see that there are other pieces of legislation that are trying to achieve the same outcome, namely in Tasmania and New Zealand. New Zealand announced its plans to ban greyhound racing shortly before the Welsh Government, with its government having recently confirmed that it will legislate on the closure of the greyhound racing industry by July 31st 2026.[10] In August 2025, Tasmania also confirmed its intention to phase out the activity, with its premier having recently vowed to end greyhound racing in the state by 2029.[11]

This demonstrates that Wales and the Welsh Government are moving in lockstep with public opinion, and the international movement towards protecting the welfare of racing greyhounds.[12][13] The social licence once afforded to greyhound racing has eroded and the public do not want it to continue. For example, in the run up to the deadline for this licensing consultation, more than 19,400 people signed the RSPCA’s latest open letter calling for an end to greyhound racing in Wales. The most recent polling undertaken by RSPCA Cymru in 2024 also shows that 77% of people either fully support (52%) or somewhat support (25%) the Cut the Chase coalition’s calls for such action from the Welsh Government.

Any other matter related to the constitutional or other implications of the Bill.

Although the Cut the Chase Coalition is focused on animal welfare we do welcome the Welsh Government’s plan to engage with workers impacted by this legislation and its commitment to engage with the Local Authority and owners of the track as part of the Implementation Group to talk about how the land can be repurposed after the implementation of this legislation.