VietNamNet Bridge – A kitten was tied to an empty water bottle and released into a swimming pool by several kids. The cat struggled and writhed in the water. That was the scene in an education program for kids on channel 3 of the national Vietnam Television (VTV), entitled “My dear baby”.

After the program was aired on April 17, many audiences expressed their anger over the “inhumane” scenes, particularly that they were broadcasted for children.

“Tonight I watched some program after the weather forecast on VTV3, which filmed several kids releasing a cat which was tied down to a water bottle into a swimming poll. The kitten struggled and writhed. It was very suck!” a viewer wrote on Facebook.

A viewer named Hoai Nam from Hanoi wrote: “That clip was about the mischievousness of a little boy named Bom. The boy thought about paper-made boats which don’t sink, so he tied the cat to a water bottle and released the cat into a swimming pool to see whether it floats or not”.

“It was the way of connection, but I cannot accept that the show producers could sink down a cat into the water to illustrate for a kid’s prank. It was an antiscientific script!”

Reader Hai An from Hanoi wrote: “When he watched the cat maltreatment scenes, my nearly 2-year-old son ran to the television, put up his hands to hold the kitten and said in a tearful voice: mum, mum, cat        falls, help it”.

“I had to hold him in my arms and explained that it was a joke in television. Someone would rescue the kitten and it would be okay”.

A reader named Le Trung wrote: “I was shocked when I watched that show with my two children. I had to tell them that it was not a real kitten. I think there is matter with the knowledge of film-makers and censors”.

Reader Hoang Minh commented: “I love animals, especially cats. I can’t accept the cat maltreatment scene on VTV recently. Such scenes will make kids to live cold and emotionless”.

Another reader wrote: “I don’t know about other Vietnamese children who watched this program, but it was inhuman to let the four kids in that clip see the kitten struggling in the water”.

“Any species has the right to live and to love. It is unable to use a cat to make such an educational test like that. As the administrator of the Association of Animal Lovers () and Association of Cat Lovers (), I and thousands of members are waiting for an answer from VTV3,” Vi Thao Nguyen, administrator of the website of the Association of Animal Lovers wrote.

Psychological expert, Nguyen Thi Kim Quy from Hanoi, said that “the show idea is not bad but it was explained badly. “The show producers only thought that they used the cat as an example to teach children, but they didn’t think that it was cruelly maltreatment,” Quy analyzed.

“After that example, the clip should have explained that the kids’ actions were wrong and cruel, and advised kids to live humanely with animals,” she said.

“This is a show on the national television channel, so censorship must be more carefully,” Quy said.

Many audiences complained that the father in the clip didn’t tell his son that sinking down a cat is wrong and cruel. He only smiled and told the kid that “only ducks can float, not cats”. The life and death of the cat was not mentioned after that.

“My dear baby” is a child education program produced by VTV3, providing parents with methods to teach their children how to take care of themselves, to care about others and good habits in daily life.

However, the “cat maltreatment” scenes aired on April 17 has made many people angry because it was counter-educational.

Quynh Anh – Son Khe