Nothing Super about ITVs Tiny Animal show

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I am glad that I stopped by the coldwetnose blog to see this post about an ITV show entitled Super Tiny Animals.  

Super Tiny Animals was billed as being about the trend for micro pets throughout the UK and US in recent years.  The time ITV chose to air the show (Wednesday, 30th November from 7.30pm - 8.30pm) was a cause for concern due to its close proximity to Christmas and early broadcast time meaning children would more than likely watch the show.  The concern was mainly that the show would glorify "handbag dogs" and had the potential to encourage viewers into want to buy a "handbag dog" or perhaps a micro pig for Christmas, without considering the responsibility and commitment of pet ownership.  This could lead to the animal ending up in a rescue centre in the New Year.  

The Blue Cross said in a statement that they had seen the number of so-called "handbag dogs" coming into the charity TRIPLE in the past five years.

Despite the concerned e-mails from organisations such as the Kennel Club, the Blue Cross, the Dogs Trust and the BVA sent to ITV they chosen not to respond and to air the show regardless.  In addition, ITV also chose to edit out TV vet Marc Abraham's segment on puppy farming which would have provided some much needed balance to the show.

As shown here on coldwetnose ITV did respond to one complaint from a concerned dog lover, with a vague message not really addressing the questions asked.  


Back in October there was an interesting article on "handbag dogs" in the Telegraph newspaper which you may want to check out.

In order for ITV to take our concerns seriously more of us need to make complaints.  If you want to watch Super Tiny Animals before sending a complaint you can do so for a short amount of time here at ITV Player.

Please direct your complaint to viewerservices@itv.com and make a complaint on the Ofcom website too.  Please remember to be polite and to the point and please let myself or the coldwetnose blog know if you receive a response!  (I will add the wording of my e-mail here at some point should you wish to refer to it as a guide).


Don't forget to tell your friends, the more the merrier!