Death of horse tripped while filming stunt for South Korean drama prompts outcry

• CNN originally reported:

January 21st — In a video posted to the Korean Animal Welfare Association (KAWA) Instagram page on Thursday, an actor in traditional costume can be seen riding a black horse, which has a rope tied to one of [his] back legs.

As the rope gets tighter, the horse falls face first into the ground, sending the actor flying into the air, the video shows. The horse can then be seen kicking [his] rear legs while [his] head remains still.
In a statement Thursday, KAWA criticized the production crew for allegedly failing to check the horse’s condition after it fell.

“Right after the filming, staff ran to check on the actor that fell on the ground,” KAWA said. “But no one checked the condition of the horse.”

NOTE: Where you see [his] the word “its” is used referring to the horse. Horses are not “its”. No animal is an “it”.

Apology

• Horse & Hound reports the following:

January 27th — The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) has issued a statement in relation to the incident on 2 November, during filming of a fall, to be aired as part of The King of Tears, Lee Bang Won.

In video shared online by Korea Animal Rights Advocates, the horse can be seen cantering through a wood and falling heavily. A rope or harness can clearly be seen in the video, seemingly attached to the horse and a tree.

In a video posted to the Korean Animal Welfare Association (KAWA) Instagram page on Thursday, an actor in traditional costume can be seen riding a black horse, which has a rope tied to one of its back legs.

Warning: distressing video

KBS said it took responsibility for the “accident”.

“It is very difficult to film a fall from a horse,” the statement said. “The horse’s safety is fundamental, and we also have to consider the safety of the actor on the horse and the safety of the crew members filming the scene. Because of this, the production staff spent several days preparing for the scene in order to prevent any accidents from potentially occurring.

“Despite this preparation, during the actual filming, an accident occurred in which the actor was thrown hard from the horse and the horse’s upper body struck the ground with great force. After the accident, the horse got up under its own power, and we checked to see that it had no external injuries before returning it. However, as viewers recently began to express concern for the horse’s current condition, we checked the horse’s condition again, and we regret to say that the horse died about a week after the filming occurred.”

KBS said it took the “unfortunate incident” very seriously.

WE SAY: Really? Seriously. Somehow we just don’t believe you. Your horrible cruelty to and lack of compassion for the horse you accidentally killed got exposed around the world, that’s all.

Tuesday’s Horse

Official Blog of the Fund for Horses

3 thoughts on “Broadcast company apologises for death of horse used while filming”

If KAWA really cared about animals instead of paying lip service to the issue, they would stop their horse slaughter, stop importing American horses for slaughter, and stop the dog meat farming and trade. I am sorry but I do not care about “cultural” (or “religious”) excuses for cruelty. There is no excuse, ever, for cruelty.

LikeLiked by 2 people

Tuesday's Horse Feb 1, 202212:41 PM Reply

Amen.

From October 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021, 947 horses were killed in South Korea, but the Korea Racing Authority (KRA) doesn’t want anyone to know the identities of these horses, reports PeTA. Since PeTA issued this report, all horse slaughter records were removed from the KRA database. Cowardly oh so predictable. That is probably where this horse was headed when they were done with him when they couldn’t get anything else out of him or simply did not want him anymore.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” The world has a long way to go it seems.

LikeLiked by 1 person