It’s is another RTP “Sexta às 9” television exposé and it threatens to be explosive. But the target of this latest ‘investigation’ – British-run horse-rescue association “Their Voice Portugal” – is adamant that it’s all a pack of lies.
According to the trailer put out by the State television service today “hundreds of people guarantee that they have been conned by an Englishwoman who created an association to defend horses in Portugal”.
Sharon Clarke – the president and founder of Their Voice Portugal (TVP) – “lives on donations from foreigners who adopt the animals, allegedly badly treated” in this country.
These foreigners – or certainly the ones the television team has spoken to – “guarantee that the horses arrive in the UK on the brink of death or in a state of debility which they consider criminal”.
The pre-publicity put out online today does concede that following the complaints followed up by Sexta às 9, veterinary authorities visited the Beja property where the association has its stables “and did not detect any irregularity”.
The Resident has been in touch with TVP – which has been active recently in animal cases in the Algarve (click here) – to try and discover its side to this so-called ‘scandal’.
A source told us: “All we can say for the moment is that we have proof to show every allegation is not true”.
Could that proof not be enough to stop the broadcast, we wondered.
“We will not stop it”, said the source, “because we want to take this report, its content and the individuals involved to court. We need it.
“This has been orchestrated by some people who hate Sharon (Clarke) and her work and this is the way they have found to try and destroy the association”.
Sexta às 9’s trailer describes “pages on social media with thousands of subscribers denouncing the deceit and mistreatment carried out at the association”.
The pages go back years.
As comments fly over social media, TVP assures people that “threats and the accusation against Their Voice or any individual person associated with us have been reported to the Polícia Judiciária”.
“We will do everything in our powers to prove the truth”.
“The publishing of false allegations, abuse and threats of violence have been, and will continue to be, collected and reported to the same police department.
“We will seek the highest consequences to anyone who offends us in this way.
“We only care about the wellbeing of our beloved horses and we will be Their Voice”.
RTP’s report will be broadcast later tonight (Friday) after Telejornal.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
