The Subcommittee on Content of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) discussed with Channel One and the Veterinary Council on the issue of anesthesia given to cats during the filming of the TV series Mae Yua, especially on animal welfare issues and other related legal issues. The NBTC office is preparing to organize a seminar to promote awareness and ethical standards on this issue again this Friday.
At the NBTC office, the aforementioned complaint was brought to the agenda of the Subcommittee on Program Content, Self-Regulation Promotion, and Professional Organization Development, which is comprised of experts in the fields of journalism, law, political science, and social science, and chaired by Emeritus Professor Dr. Pironrong Ramasoota, NBTC Commissioner for Broadcasting. Representatives from Channel One provided clarification, and veterinarian Waritwong Likhitchaikul, Deputy Secretary-General of the Veterinary Council, also joined the meeting to provide information.
Following the One Channel drama Mae Yua, which had a scene where a cat drank water mixed with poison and died, information from co-stars in the scene and the drama director later emerged that the drama producers had knocked the cat out with drugs, and the cat did not actually die, leading to widespread criticism, especially on social media, about whether or not this could be considered animal cruelty.
The Subcommittee jointly considered the following issues: the presentation of content that may constitute animal cruelty through media, the production process of content that involves anesthesia in animals, which must be supervised by an expert veterinarian, as well as the use of drugs, and consideration of animal welfare as guaranteed by the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Provision of Welfare Act B.E. 2557.
After hearing the information and facts, the subcommittee assigned the NBTC’s legal department to study additional related legal issues. However, the meeting did not reach any final conclusions at this stage because there will need to be discussions and discussions with experts in various fields as well as those enforcing other related laws.
“The presentation of content in the media, if it is a shocking image, will certainly have an impact on viewers. However, the production process also needs to be careful and fully consider the welfare of animals. This may be something that content producers and Thai society need to be more aware of and understand,” said NBTC Commissioner for Broadcasting.
In addition, this coming Friday (November 15), the NBTC office will organize a forum on the case, which aims to promote self-regulation based on ethical standards of media organizations that are NBTC licensees, especially in the production of content or the process of obtaining content, and to raise awareness of the issue of using animals in program content, which must strictly take into account animal welfare and related laws.
