People who torture animals or fail to provide adequate welfare for animals in their care could be punished by a jail term ranging from six months to five years or a fine of Bt10,000 to Bt100,000.

Newly drafted legislation proposes much tougher sentences than the current penalties of up to one month in jail and/or a Bt1,000 fine under articles 381 and 382 of the criminal law.

The legislation - initiated by the Thai Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (TSPCA) and Mahidol University's faculty of veterinary science, and reviewed by the Lawyers Council of Thailand - covers domesticated, wild, commercial and laboratory animals.

Thailand's first so-called animal welfare and torture prevention law was revealed on Friday to animal welfare advocates, legal experts and the media.

Animal torture was for the first time defined in detail. It includes beating, burning, forcing animals to overwork or perform a function not suitable to type and condition, neglecting them when sick and raising them in tight spaces, causing pain or death. Abandonment, eating live animals, tying them up for long periods and forcing them to fight each other were also listed as torture.

Animal torturers would face a maximum penalty of two years' imprisonment and/or up to a Bt40,000 fine, while those running a business using animals without permission would face up to a five-year jail term and/or a Bt100,000 fine.

The legislation allows animal slaughter only in certain cases - such as consumption within a family, for religious rites, or killing by law - and it must be done with a method deemed the least painful. Those breaching the law would face up to six months in jail and/or a Bt10,000 fine.

The legislation ensured animal welfare based on the "five freedoms" guideline, said Assoc Prof Panthep Ratanakorn, dean of Mahidol University's faculty of veterinary science. These were freedom from hunger and thirst, freedom from discomfort, freedom from pain, injury or disease, freedom to express normal behaviour and freedom from fear and distress.

Those failing to give good welfare to animals under their supervision would face a maximum one-year jail term and/or a Bt20,000 fine.

Officers would also be given greater authority to arrest violators and seize evidence according to criminal law. This would prevent officers from failing to do their duty and people from obstructing the officers' work, according to Jesada Anucharee of the Lawyers' Council of Thailand.

The legislation also allows the court to order first-time offenders with good backgrounds to undertake social service in animal welfare-related work instead of receiving criminal punishment.

Other details include the establishment of a national animal welfare committee chaired by the agriculture minister to supervise policy and planning for animal protection, plus provincial-level committees to oversee the implementation of the law in their jurisdiction.

A fund to support animal welfare would also be established within the Livestock Development Department, while the department's director-general would be authorised to endorse the establishment of animal-welfare centres nation-wide.

The new law would also permit the registration of local and international organisations to let them assist in implementing the law, be financially supported by the state and participate in various committees, according to Jessada.

The next step is to organise public hearings about the legislation in the next three or four months, said TSPCA secretary-general Sawan Saengbunlung. They also plan to get 50,000 signatures in support of the legislation.

Sawan said he would soon meet the Agriculture Ministry to discuss pushing the Livestock Development Department's animal legislation that had been rejected by Parliament for inclusion in the new legislation, to help accelerate it being passed into law.

Premyuda Boonroj

The Nation