A Donegal farmer has expressed his outrage at RTE over footage of a dog being drowned which appeared in the station’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
Footage of a pet dog having his legs tied together and being thrown into the water was featured on the programme Terminus: Gola Island, which documented the evacuation of the last residents of the island in 1970 and was shown on the channel last Tuesday.
Numerous viewers of the programme were outraged by what they saw and one viewer, Donegal farmer Gerard Gallagher from Drumkeen, was particularly offended, going as far as to contact RTE ‘personalities’ (in the loosest sense of the word) Derek Mooney, Pat Kenny and Joe Duffy to vent his feelings on the matter.
“As a family that has a dog, my children would have been horrified had they viewed this,” he told DonegalDaily.com.
“No matter how desperate the position these people of Gola found themselves in, it most certainly did not justify this act of indifferent cruelty.
“I am a farmer, and we would never resort to these extremes with an animal, and they are treated with the respect they deserve,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Dublin Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) told The Star: “RTE should have viewed this material beforehand and realised it was not suitable. By showing this documentary they are all but repeating the cruelty to this poor, defenceless animal.
“People may claim this was filmed a number of years ago but this does not mean that it did not happen. A dog was still cruelly killed and for RTE to show it is simply not acceptable.”
RTE defended themselves over the whole unsavoury incident, with a spokesperson saying: “A continuity announcer had warned viewers before the broadcast that the film would contain scenes which some viewers would find upsetting.”
Having had to deal with the flak over the god-awful New Year’s Eve broadcast and now this, it hasn’t been a great start to 2012 for the folks over at Montrose. Happy 50th birthday indeed.
