The decision has been made to protect the welfare of the racing dogs, New Zealand's Racing Minister Winston Peters has announced.

In short:

The New Zealand government has announced it will end greyhound racing to protect the welfare of the racing dogs.

It said the legislation will be passed with urgency on Tuesday to prevent any unnecessary killing of racing dogs as a result of the impending ban.

What’s next?

A committee has been set up to help manage a 20-month transition, including rehoming the roughly 2,900 racing greyhounds around the country.