BBC must tell the truth about the death of this poor dog! Controversial

Please have a look at this petition to ask the BBC to tell the truth about Snip Nua's death (the greyhound in the 'Three Men go to Ireland' show who was destroyed before the programme went out!) and the fate of thousands of greyhounds like her (see info below)

PLEASE SIGN & SHARE, THANKS!
http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/snipnua

In early 2010 the BBC received many complaints after it featured a racing greyhound called Snip Nua in the popular TV show 'Three Men Go to Ireland'. The show was presented by Grif Rhys Jones, Rory McGrath and Dara O'Briain. Snip was owned by a syndicate of 16 wealthy members, among which comedian Dara O'Briain was one. What Dara and the BBC forgot to tell viewers was that Snip Nua had been destroyed by the time the show was broadcast.

Snip like many other racing greyhounds suffered a broken hock in what was to be her seventh and final race at Harold's Cross Dublin on the 14th December 2009.

Hock injuries are common in racing greyhounds and while the injuries are usually career ending they are almost always treatable. In the UK the Greyhound board of Great Britain sanctions the destruction of injured dogs on economic grounds (ie they are unsuitable to race following injury) and in other countries the destruction of such dogs is common practice. The Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has described the practice as 'tantamout to animal abuse'.

Earlier this year the BBC repeated the show and rather than admit what had happened they airbrushed all traces of this poor dog from the footage!!!


This is a one in a million opportunity to get the BBC to make a Public Statement and apology that could enlighten millions of people around the World regarding not only this sad and shameful story about the destruction of an innocent dog but also about the plight of thousands of racing greyhounds like her

Over 1230 signatures now but we need many more to make the BBC sit up and listen! They must show some integrity and show an unbiased image of greyhound racing and the reality for the dogs....

Please don't let the BBC mislead the British dog loving public ... please tell them that they must tell the truth!

Thanks

What do you want them to do ??/

They need to put out a public statement and formal apology ... they have not only misled the public and since covered up but they disregarded their own complaints protocol and ignored thousands of complaints because they were so keen to avoid the controversy!
The are a public body and should be accountable especially when they have exploited an animal in this way!
If a human member of the cast had died before the show was aired there would have been an acknowledgement somewhere in the schedule but of course they didn't want the British dog loving public to know what happened to this dog and thousands like her ...

Waggi, you've mentioned that all the scenes with Snip Nua in them were cut when the BBC re-ran the show, and I seem to remember you were the one complaining about that at the time of the re-run.

I would think they did that because of people complaining, and yet you are now saying they have ignored the complaints... you really cannot have it both ways, you know.

Futhermore, did anyone even tell the BBC that poor Snip was dead before the show was aired first time around? Yes, it would be nice to think Dara told them... but did he?

Is sweeping Snip Nua's death under the carpet acceptable behaviour? Does it show respect for her or the throusands or greyhounds like her that die for this 'sport' Catfish?

The producers who the BBC commissioned to make this show for them must have known that she was dead and it is normal practice to notify viewers when the 'star' or even just a participant in a TV show has died before a programme goes out ... why should it be so diffierent for a racing greyhound??? Especially one that everyone was talking about after the show went out ...???

Normal response to significant complaints (and BBC protocol) is to publish them on the BBC website ... of course in this case the BBC did not follow their own protocols and to my knowledge they didn't even respond properly to the majority of complainants, however many times they wrote, and they have failed to any of the specific questions put to them, let alone publish the complaint on the web ...

To now airbrush this dog from History adds insult to injury for those of us who care about what happens to racing greyhounds and is quite unacceptable .. the BBC have simply responded by covering up their tracks so that millions of licence fee paying viewers - many of them dog lovers - and other viewers around the World, remain misled!!!

The BBC are a public body that have a duty to the public to show integrity by amongst other things remaining impartial and free of advertising .... in this case they have not done so and added to the fact that they have repeatedly not only promoted one rose tinted side of the greyhound racing story in this and other shows but they have on at least a couple of recent occasions (sponsorship of Welcome Along and Show Me the Bunny on the radio) actively participated!

This should not be acceptable by any stretch of the imagination to anyone who cares about the welfare of these dogs!

Hmmmm I'm confused - how did the BBC "mislead" the public? It's not like they claimed she was still alive, or lied about how she died?

I don't understand that "the producers who made the show must have known she was dead" - why must they have known? I doubt they would have known, their job is to produce tv programmes not keep track of greyhound deaths?

To be clear the BBC not only need to make a public statement and apology and tell viewers the truth about what happened to Snip Nua and thousands like her but they also need to redress the balance in their coverage

Still they continue to cover this story up and only today they have removed it from their BBC Points of View forum rather than address the complaints made against them!

What exactly are they apologising for? That something happened to a greyhound that was totally nothing to do with them?

It's like saying CH4 should publicly apologise every time a racehorse dies

I would say the fact that the novice Greyhound Snip nua's race at Mulligar was analised by Dara and his friends as a 'learning experience....from which we can be philisophical about ' would suggest that the viewer might have expected updates on her progress in future episodes. No body had any idea she had in fact been killed when the show was aired at Christmas 2009/10. I would have thought it would have been only decent for the BBC to let the public know what really happened instead of presenting a glossy view of an industry with a dubious reputation for abuse.
If you'd like to ask the BBC to make a full statement about this incident please sign and share the petiton
http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/snipnua

What was the TV programme about? Was it specifically about this greyhound? Or the racing industry?

Did the production company reply when you brought it to their attention ?

In reply to Jet&Copper - Yes, the programme focused on the young greyhound Snip Nua being taken to race ... she was central to the show and viewers were shown what a fun 'sport' greyhound racing is in Ireland - as we all know, that isn't exactly true for the majority of the dogs!
However, the Irish Tourist Board and the Irish Greyhound Board recognised what fantastic publicity this show was for their 'sport' from statements on their websites (now removed!)
Snip Nua's story epitomises what happens to thousands of greyhounds like her every year - destroyed at a very young age for often treatable injuries or just surplus to requirements ... not an image the BBC or their programme makers apparently wanted to present, so much so, that they did not follow normal protocol and tell viewers that the 'star' was already dead whilst they were watching everyone have so much fun!
The BBC have since ignored countless complaints and abandoned their own protocols for addressing such complaints, have airbrushed all traces of this exploited young hound from the footage, and now have even removed threads about the shameful story from the BBC Points of View forum ... all steps that can only be aimed at avoiding telling viewers the sordid truth that this dog - who they enjoyed watching so much - had already been destroyed like thousands like her ... something the public have a right to know!
For those who have compassion for greyhounds please sign and share, thanks:
http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/snipnua

No - the BBC complaints dept procrastinated and repeatedly said they would reply with answers from the production team to specific questions but NOTHING!

Sorry, I haven't seen the programme so just trying to understand what the show was about - I don't get how Snip Nua could be "central" to the show, that the programme "focused" on her specifically, but then all footage of her be removed and the programme still remotely make sense never mind be aired?

i dont see that bbc need to do anything tbh,
at the end of the day its nothing to do with them what happened to the poor dog,
and i cant believe her getting put to sleep is being likened to animal cruelty

In reply to Jet & Copper: The show played on the historic book "Three Men in a Boat (To say Nothing of the Dog)" by Jerome K. Jerome, so Snip Nua - Dara O'Briains syndicate's racing greyhound - went on a boat journey across Ireland to be raced at Mullingar so the dog was in scenes throughout the show and was central to the original plot .... even apparently being met by town turning out with marching bands when they all arrived!

To remove her meant shaving 15 minutes off a 1hr programme and left the bare bones but this show had huge viewing figures (millions!) when it first went out and has been shown around the World, so as with most programmes the BBC like to repeat them to get their money's worth ... removing the greyhound left a rather disjointed story line where the three funny men effectively travelled across Ireland to a village fete....

...and all to avoid putting a public statement in a screen shot at the end of the programme saying the dog had been injured and destroyed ... total lack of respect and compassion for the poor dog that they so callously have used (to say nothing of Redwood Rio who trailed in last in Snip's BBC race and has not been heard of since)

Would you treat your own dog for a broken leg??? Or a relative??? Or would you have it/them automatically destroyed...

Do you think it's wrong (i.e. abuse) to destroy a dog for a treatable injury - especially an injury sustained whilst the dog was performing for you simply for 'sport' and entertainment???

In the light of the questions asked about the show, I have done a bit of research and a summary of it can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pk5nj if anyone is interested enough to look, it would make this post way too long if I quote it all.

Without wanting to seem to be over reacting to the parts of your post that I have quoted, I do hope that you are not attempting to suggest that I do not care about the welfare of Greyhounds, Waggi.

yes i would treat my dog,
but they putting a dog to sleep is much better than chucking her in a kennel with no treatment.
they put an end to her suffering so in my mind that is not abuse

I do agree that the programme would seem a bit weird if the whole point of it was removed....

Personally, no I don't think putting an injured greyhound down counts as abuse.