But few of its powerbrokers knew Tuesday’s decision was coming.
The first greyhound bosses suspected something big, and almost certainly not positive, was happening was when a television crew sought permission to film at a dog meeting at Palmerston North.
That was at 11am. Calls were made. They were officially told at noon. At 1pm, the sport was effectively given a public death sentence.
Greyhound racing had been put on notice before, including by former Racing Minister Grant Robertson in 2021.
There has been chatter even since that it was on the shakiest of ground.
Greyhound Racing New Zealand (GRNZ) chief executive Edward Rennell is adamant the sport has made huge progress in the area of dog welfare and says the number of dogs that died through racing incidents, whether race accidents or sudden death on race day, were down to 13 last racing season.
For some perspective, whether it is wanted or not, Auckland Council revealed just two months ago that over 4000 dogs were put down in their pounds in the 2023-24 financial year.
That is 11 dogs a day in the Auckland region alone.
Rennell also believes greyhound racing’s rehoming programme has been a huge success, with 673 dogs finding new homes last season after being retired.
But while greyhound racing may have improved, even enormously, on the welfare front, it may be paying for its past sins when the dogs were sometimes not treated with the care they deserve.
Tuesday’s announcement raises many questions.
What will happen to the near 3000 dogs registered in New Zealand at the moment? If GRNZ’s rehoming programme can repeat last year’s record 673 placements, it is still going to take more than four years to find homes for all these dogs.
Who pays for them in the meantime?
If a greyhound owner has 20 dogs, which can happen quickly because of litter sizes, and that owner’s income from the industry ceases in 20 months as announced, are they expected to care for those dogs until homes are found for them, perhaps a full two years later?
Do those rules apply to normal non-racing dogs owned by normal New Zealand citizens? Maybe they should. But they don’t.
But the death of greyhound racing isn’t just a story about dogs. It is also about people.
People who found out on Tuesday something they love, something that provides their income and for some of them, the most important thing in their lives apart from their own families, is going to cease to exist.
There will be people reading this who don’t care about those people, believing they are tarnished by working in the greyhound industry.
They might feel the same about people who work in the farming, fishing or meat processing industries, or the thousands of New Zealanders who enjoying hunting, fishing and duck shooting.
All of these pursuits end far worse for the animals involved than greyhound racing does for the vast majority of its dogs.
I feel for those greyhound people, some of them kind people who love animals and dogs more than anybody.
Can greyhound racing be saved? Probably not.
Once the Prime Minister tweets out “we will be ending greyhound racing”, it would appear to have few friends left, if any, in the halls of power.
But before you celebrate its demise, remember, there are people just like you, animal lovers, who got told they are losing their jobs today and will be caring for those dogs tomorrow.
