RTE urged to stop broadcasting “go greyhound racing” radio ad

RTE is being urged to stop broadcasting a radio advert that encourages people to “go greyhound racing”.

The ad is currently being aired on RTE Radio 1.

In an appeal to RTE Director General Dee Forbes and the Head of RTE Radio 1, Peter Woods, ICABS stated: “This is entirely inappropriate given the shocking animal cruelty exposed by your station’s award-winning ‘Greyhounds Running for Their Lives’. The 2019 documentary revealed that an estimated 6,000 greyhounds are killed behind the scenes each year, simply because they are not fast enough to win races. It included shocking scenes of greyhounds being brought to a knackery where they were shot in the head and dumped in a skip.”

Also highlighted in our correspondence was the growing number of greyhounds who suffer and die at tracks.

“At races around Ireland since 2014, at least 2,881 greyhounds suffered injuries and 983 died or were killed,” we pointed out. “That includes 351 injuries and 154 deaths last year – the highest annual number of deaths at tracks since records began.”

Among the victims: a greyhound who died after suffering a “severe fracture of the neck”, a greyhound who collapsed after a race and died of a heart attack, a greyhound who was carried away bleeding with a leg bone “popped out”, a greyhound who collapsed and died with a “haemorrhage into the abdomen from a rupture of the aorta”, a greyhound who “collided with a boundary wall and died on impact” and greyhounds who suffered broken necks and died.

RTE has also been told that some of the biggest animal welfare charities have recently joined calls for an end to greyhound racing due to all the suffering and death. They include the RSPCA, Dogs Trust UK, Blue Cross and Woodgreen Pets. The League Against Cruel Sports and Scottish SPCA are also calling for greyhound racing to be banned. Here in the Republic, Dogs Trust Ireland has also announced that it wants to see greyhound racing ended as soon as possible. The CEO of the ISPCA, meanwhile, has stated in the past week that the group “supports a winding down of greyhound racing in Ireland”.

The radio ad is offensive to the majority of people who want the government to stop the state grants that prop up this dog-killing gambling business. It is also disrespectful to the talented team who exposed the horrors of greyhound racing and produced what remains one of RTE’s most hard-hitting and impactful documentaries.

ACTION ALERT

Join us in urging RTE to stop airing the greyhound racing ad.

Telephone: (01) 2083111

Dee Forbes
Director General, RTÉ
Email: dee.forbes@rte.ie

Peter Woods
Head of RTE Radio 1
Email: peter.woods@rte.ie

Watch “RTE Investigates: Greyhounds Running For Their Lives”