It is the second time the BSA has upheld a complaint against a programme hosted by the controversial television parodist, whose programmes have previously attracted complaints for indecent language and depictions of public urination, drug use and masturbation.
In a majority decision released today, the BSA found that an episode of Birdland broadcast on TV One on November 14 last year breached the children's interests standard because it was shown at 7pm -- an accepted children's viewing time.
Wells was shown putting an open cage containing two live mice he had cared for into a weka enclosure at a farm in Southland.
"While most humans consider these rodents pests, to the weka palate they're as delicious as caviar or whitebait fritters," he said.
A weka was shown lunging at one of the mice, and Wells and the weka farmer were shown laughing.
"At first, I thought the mouse was a goner, but as the slow-motion camera reveals, it was just a close call," Wells said in a voice over.
Wells was later shown shaking the cage to drop the mice into the enclosure.
"It was time to give Roger's weka a treat and to finally say goodbye to our brave little mice," he said.
A weka snapped up one mouse and carried it off into grass, where it could be heard squealing.
"Thankfully the end, when it came, was swift," Wells said.
Another weka chased and pecked the second mouse before carrying it into the grass to eat.
Three complaints to the BSA alleged the programme had breached standards relating to children's interests, good taste and decency, responsible programming and violence.
One complainant said the "terrified" mice should not have been tormented for the purposes of humour or entertainment. Another complained that the scene was "gratuitous" and that Wells had shown "no concern for their wellbeing or their suffering".
TVNZ responded that the scenes were relatively brief and the mice's deaths were not shown.
The programme was rated Parental Guidance Recommended (PGR), and the scene would not have been unexpected because it was well signposted.
Animals hunting other animals was "a fact of nature" shown on many nature documentaries, TVNZ said.
A majority of the BSA found that "the very calculated nature of the scenes" went well beyond those in typical nature documentaries, which usually featured wild animals hunting and feeding in natural environments.
"We do not believe that a programme in which defenceless animals were cared for and then offered to predatory animals to be pecked to death and eaten, for the purposes of comedy or entertainment, conveyed the sort of values that should be promoted to children," the majority said.
"Witnessing someone feeding his live pets to another animal was very likely to disturb child viewers whether accompanied by an adult or not, in which case the programme should have been broadcast at a later time."
The majority found the programme had breached the children's interests standard, but declined to make findings on the other alleged breaches, noting that it would have been unlikely to breach the good taste and decency standard had it been broadcast later.
Some complaints related to animal welfare and cruelty issues rather than broadcasting standards, and it was unclear whether the programme had breached society's ambiguous and changing attitudes to animal welfare, the majority said.
A minority found that the footage was innocuous in the context of a "quirky yet informative nature programme".
The BSA did not make any orders to the broadcaster, as it was a majority decision.
It said the decision would remind broadcasters to take care with material of a similar nature, and to ensure it was screened at an appropriate time.
The BSA had previously upheld one complaint against a programme hosted by Wells, but had declined to uphold six others.
TVNZ was ordered to pay $1000 and to broadcast a statement after the BSA upheld a complaint against a 2001 episode of the snowboarding programme Shred, which showed Wells reading out sexually explicit graffiti.
A complaint against a 2004 episode of the satirical news show Eating Media Lunch -- in which a parody of the consumer affairs show Target showed workmen engaging in phone sex, drug use, masturbation, defecation and urination -- was not upheld.
A complaint against a 2007 episode of The Unauthorised History of New Zealand -- in which Wells appeared to urinate on a public sculpture and made a statement about pakeha settlers "f---ing over" Maori -- was also not upheld.
