BBC defends Tribe sequence in which Bruce Parry suffocates goat to death

The BBC has defended a sequence in documentary programme Tribe in which presenter Bruce Parry suffocates a goat to death.

The BBC Two series followed the filmmaker and indigenous rights activist as he lived among three remote communities.

In the second episode Parry lived with Angola’s Mucubal community. He was asked to sacrifice a goat through suffocation, which is claimed to be a traditional request of guests.

After the second episode of the three-part series aired, animal rights charity People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) condemned it and said the BBC should answer for screening it.

The BBC said: “The goat sequence in episode two accurately portrays an essential part of Mucubal life in Angola, and it is traditional for Mucubal communities to ask visitors to slaughter a goat.

“As the programme explains, the Mucubal believe that stabbing an animal is cruel and suffocation is a more respectful death.

“The goat was eaten after its slaughter and to avoid including it in the programme would create an inauthentic portrayal of Mucubal life.”

Parry presented three series of Tribe in 2005, and Amazon With Bruce Parry won a Bafta in 2009 for best factual series.

The series reboot was announced in February and the three-part programme took Parry to Colombia to meet the Waimaha people and to Indonesia’s Marapu, as well as the Mucubal community.

Elisa Allen, Peta’s vice president of programmes, said: “Bruce Parry would be in jail and facing criminal charges if his abominably cruel goat suffocation had occurred on British soil, and Peta will see what action can be taken regardless, as he planned this, no doubt, from the UK, sharing responsibility with the BBC.

“For selfish ratings ‘shock value’, a gentle being who otherwise loved to play and jump spent her final moments in abject terror, gasping for air, struggling to stay alive, and bleating for mercy that Parry failed to grant.

“Parry’s excuse of cultural immersion is a failed attempt at washing his hands of an act of wanton cruelty to animals, and the BBC must answer for enabling such cruelty.

“If Parry is shaken, he should make amends, perhaps with a sizeable donation to a bona fide goat sanctuary.

“Viewers disturbed by this should reconsider their choices, because every meal, sweater or scarf can either harm or spare an animal’s life.”

Parry was a Royal Marine, rising to the rank of lieutenant, before becoming an adventurer and presenter of the Tribe series, for which he has immersed himself in more than 15 different tribal communities.

Tribe is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.