However, despite a drop in breeding and the closure of 14 tracks since 1990, a glut of excess greyhounds remain, as thousands of these dogs must continue to be bred each year in order for large scale dog racing to exist. The killing of unwanted greyhounds can be ended by placing them all into homes as pets. It is neither the public's nor the adoption community's responsibility to help the greyhound racing industry whitewash its poor animal welfare record. Greyhounds do make wonderful pets, but adoption can neither eliminate the killing nor the suffering inflicted on these animals under the racing system. In actuality, privately funded adoption groups have always been responsible for placing the majority of lucky greyhounds who survive the system, into homes.
Greyhound adoptions increase every year.
The industry has no accurate reporting system for determining the number of greyhounds placed into homes as pets. Fabricated figures are inflated every year in an effort to convince the public that adoption is the solution. Logic dictates that racing greyhounds must be well treated, or they would not win races. Greyhound adoption groups continually receive dogs in poor condition- clear evidence that with so many dogs being bred and waiting in the wings, it is simply cheaper to bring in fresh dogs or neglect existing dogs than it is to care for them properly. State oversight is essentially concerned with gambling issues, not animal welfare.