2,800 greyhounds born in 2021 now dead or unaccounted for

Some 287 greyhounds’ deaths were registered as on ‘human grounds’ with the RCETS programme in 2021. File Picture: Howard Crowdy

Nearly 2,800 racing greyhounds, or over a fifth of those dogs born in Ireland in 2021, are now either dead or unaccounted for, the Irish Examiner can reveal.

As of April this year, of the 12,483 non-coursing greyhounds born on the island, at least 2,772 were either listed as being deceased or as having no status.

When the 4,527 greyhounds of the 2021 litters who have since been exported are taken out of the equation, just under 35% of the animals remaining in Ireland from that year are either dead or their location is unknown. Pet greyhounds typically live for about 12 years.

The data was released by Greyhound Racing Ireland (GRI) via a series of parliamentary questions by TDs Bríd Smith, Paul Murphy, and Neasa Hourigan.

The issue of greyhound welfare in Ireland has been a hot topic for the industry since the broadcast of an RTÉ documentary, Running for their Lives, in 2019.

The documentary alleged that as many as 6,000 animals were being culled annually for not being fast enough.

In the wake of that documentary, Greyhound Racing Ireland commissioned a traceability programme known as RCETS at a cost of €295,000 — with the first full year of that tracing being 2021.

Per the 2021 data, some 1,951 of the 7,135 animals registered as still being in Ireland were reported as being deceased. No reason was given for the animal’s death in 1,187 of those cases.

The largest number of deaths with a reason given was 287 — on “humane grounds” — with a further 261 being of “natural causes”.

Ms Hourigan asked: “Is it ok for at least 27% of these animals to be dead?”

How is it that we have a welfare system and a traceability system, and yet 27% of animals don’t make it?

“It would be an extraordinary number in any industry, and the numbers simply don’t stack up," she said.

Nuala Donlon, a spokesperson for anti-greyhound racing advocacy body Greyhound Action Ireland, noted that RCETS “is a self-reporting system which records some, but not all, of the key life events of non-coursing greyhounds”.

“This results in partial reporting and a breakdown in traceability, a moveable feast in other words, for all non-coursing greyhounds born in any given year. It is completely lacking in transparency,” she said, adding that a more appropriate and fully comprehensive reporting system is already in place for bovines.

Funding

Both the greyhound and horse racing industries in Ireland receive many millions in taxpayer funding each year via the Horse and Greyhound Fund, which totalled €95m for 2024, with €19m of that figure distributed to the greyhound industry.

The Irish Examiner recently reported that deaths of racing greyhounds at Irish tracks increased by 60% over the six months of 2024.

Some 96 greyhounds were either euthanised or died of a racing injury on Ireland’s 15 operational greyhound racing tracks between January and the end of June 2024.