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The Irish Council Against Blood Sports has lodged a complaint with RTE Radio 1 over coverage shamefully given to greyhound racing on the Sunday Sport show last month.
The 13-minute report by Mike McCarthy related to the Irish St Leger race at Limerick Stadium on 17 August.
In an email to programme presenter Des Cahill (who described it as “a great report”) and Head of RTE Radio 1, Peter Woods, we stated: “We are writing to express our disappointment and disgust at coverage of greyhound racing on RTE Radio 1's Sunday Sport show of 18 August 2024. This was entirely inappropriate given the shocking animal cruelty exposed in RTE'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.”
We also pointed out to the pair that greyhounds also suffer and die at tracks, quoting Greyhound Racing Ireland stats which show that at races around Ireland since 2014, at least 3,485 greyhounds suffered injuries and 1,290 died or were killed. That includes 257 injuries and 134 deaths last year plus 178 injuries and 96 deaths in the first six months of 2024.
Among the victims at tracks: 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.
Over the past nine years at Limerick track, from where the Sunday Sport report came, 360 greyhounds suffered injuries and 120 were killed.
Also highlighted was the fact that the ISPCA has recently renewed its calls for an end to greyhound racing in Ireland. The society referred to "the appalling animal welfare and export issues linked with the greyhound industry" and raised concerns about "the welfare of greyhounds and that includes before, during and after their racing lives".
"We believe that the greyhound industry is flawed and in decline, and that its end is inevitable," the ISPCA stated.
Other animal welfare charities pushing for an end to greyhound racing include the RSPCA, Dogs Trust UK, Blue Cross, GREY2K, Woodgreen Pets, The League Against Cruel Sports and Scottish SPCA. Dogs Trust Ireland has stated that it wants to see greyhound racing ended as soon as possible.
“There is absolutely no justification for the national broadcaster to be promoting a dog-killing activity that the country’s biggest animal welfare charities want ended,” we told Des Cahill and Peter Woods. “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. We urge you to please recognise the cruelty and killing and stop giving coverage to greyhound racing.”
ACTION ALERT
Contact Des Cahill and Peter Woods and demand an end to greyhound racing coverage on RTE Radio 1.
Des Cahill
RTÉ, Sunday Sport
Email: sportsdes@gmail.com
Peter Woods
Head of RTE Radio 1
Email: peter.woods@rte.ie
Watch RTE’s award-winning “Greyhounds Running For Their Lives” documentary
https://youtu.be/ZYTb2qBjlMM