New investigation reveals greyhounds being injected at UK race event

An exposé by Sighthound Welfare UK (SWUK) and CAGED Nationwide has captured footage of greyhounds being forced to the ground and injected with suspected illicit drugs, at an underground race event in Birmingham. 

Credit: CAGED Nationwide

The footage, captured in 2022 and 2025, shows numerous botched attempts to stick needles into the veins of dogs moments before races began. Investigators contacted the local police – who have since apologised – the RSPCA, the Rural Crime Team, and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate but were met with resistance and silence, demonstrating a shocking lack of enforcement of animal welfare laws.  

In response to Animal Aid’s current petition, the government says it considers greyhound racing to be “a well-regulated sport” but this latest exposé proves otherwise. 

Links to the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) 

‘Underground’ races are privately organised and typically not open to the public and yet worrying links to the racing industry’s formal regulatory body, GBGB, have been revealed in this new investigation.  

Not only is a GBGB-licensed racing kennel just a short walk from the track in Birmingham where greyhounds were being injected, but vehicles were seen coming and going between the two venues. Three of the men involved in pinning a greyhound to the ground and injecting them had connections to GBGB: one was a former licensed greyhound trainer, another a former licensed greyhound owner, and the third was a kennel hand. 

Importantly, the doping of greyhounds is endemic to the industry, both at licensed and unlicensed events. Industry newsletters, like this one, have a dedicated section to disciplinaries – and nearly every single one is to do with doping. There is no way that GBGB are unaware of the issue, and yet they do nothing.

How you can help

The government must realise that greyhound racing is not the “well-regulated sport” they believe it to be and must stop letting the Greyhound Board of Great Britain mark their own homework.

Sign Animal Aid’s government petition now

Please watch SWUK’s new investigation in full and share it far and wide: