Dr Rebekah Eyers Pushes Greyhound Ban After 1,064 Injuries in SA

RSPCA SA has renewed its push to phase out greyhound racing in South Australia after race-day records showed 1,064 injuries last year. The group says the 2023 inquiry and its reforms have not improved dog safety, with the industry still facing a July 8, 2026 deadline to lift standards or confront a complete ban.

Dr Rebekah Eyers

Dr Rebekah Eyers, the group’s animal welfare advocate, said more than two years of reform had not fixed welfare problems entrenched in greyhound racing. Her warning lands alongside the sharpest number in the latest data: 316 major injuries and five deaths were recorded in South Australia last year.

She also argued that the industry’s problems are built into how it operates. “Sadly, we think that the biggest welfare problems in the South Australian greyhound racing industry are baked into the industry’s own operating model,” she said.

RSPCA SA wants the South Australian government to follow the lead of other jurisdictions and end the sport. Greyhound racing is already banned in the ACT, and Tasmania’s Premier Jeremy Rockliff has announced plans to phase it out there by 2029.

Graham Ashton Inquiry

The current deadline traces back to a state government-commissioned inquiry led by former Victorian police commissioner Graham Ashton in 2023 after an ABC report showed multiple greyhounds being abused on an Adelaide property. The inquiry produced 87 recommendations for change, including an independent inspector, governance reforms and government funding for a full-time RSPCA greyhound welfare officer.

The report said there was an urgent need for the industry to reform if it was to meet contemporary community expectations. It added that the sport could keep a social licence only if the recommended changes were immediate and widespread.

Those warnings were sharpened by the latest injury figures. Data from January to March 2026 shows 259 injuries on South Australian tracks, a 16 per cent increase on the previous quarter, and one greyhound was euthanised two weeks ago after serious injuries during a race in Mount Gambier.

South Australia Deadline

The government gave the industry two years in December 2023 to improve standards or face a complete ban, setting the finish line at July 8, 2026. For trainers, owners and clubs, that means the pressure now sits on whether the reforms can show results before the deadline arrives.

RSPCA SA is not waiting for that date to make its case. It is pointing to the injury totals, the deaths and the recent rise in track injuries as proof that the changes have not gone far enough.