75-year-old man feeding cat attacked on Osaka street

Violence cannot be tolerated in any society. Nishinari is a double plus interesting area, I visit regularly with my partner to look around, learn about the place and visit old school cafes so she can enjoy a parfait. It is however a place that would be called ‘dodgy’, many Japanese avoid it due to its reputation. There are many day labourers there living in 400 yen a night places or on the streets. The city is trying to gentrify the area and however the local community is opposed to change.

I’ve seen Siamese cats on the streets,bought for an exorbitant price and then put out onto the streets,

when surplus to requirements.

Well, it is not the stray cats that should be blamed but thoughtless humans!

All the animals in my life ( many) are cared for until their demise-Japanese people need to be educated!

So now you cannot even peacefully feed a living creature without threat of being attacked by another human here. What is going on in Japan? And shame on the people defending the assailant. Doesn't matter what you think about street cats, attacking someone (with a weapon that could kill them) is never the answer. Hope the poor old guy makes it out alright.

And Antiquesaving, quite a lot of us would like to take the stray cats in, actually. Unfortunately, most apartments do not allow you to keep pets. If mine did, I'd have already taken in several street cats by this point.

@Rodney So there are 7 cats at the train station that are unvaccinated. You have an NGO you say. So why haven't you tried to catch those cats and get them vaccinated if it bothers you so much. And why haven't you communicated with the man that feeds them. Maybe he can volunteer his time and help you in your NGO activities.

People here can say what they want to say about the stray cats, love them or hate them, BUT there is some GOOD that they do. If you get rid of them, you will have another problem, and that is RATS, you will have a large RAT population!!! Believe it or not these, strays keep the rat population down. So if you take away the "C" you will end up getting the "R" which do you prefer? I'd take the cats they are harmless!!

Nobody wants to say this because it would be very down-marked. I read blue's post about catching and neutering cats, then returning them to the streets, which I admire; but I really think the best thing to do with stray cats, if you can catch them, is to have them "euthanised" by a vet. It is painless and merciful, and, as Antiquesaving says, would save the lives of many birds. I have observed the lived of stray cats around the two places I have lived at in Tokyo over the last 30 years, and have the impression they have pretty hard lives, always having fights over territory, and looking for food. Many probably die from disease or malnutrition anyway.

Rodney As an animal lover maybe you could do something to help out!

actually I do and have a small NGO. One of my many goals is to get stray cats vaccinated. Thank you.

@blue Thanks for your kindness to cats and all the valuable info on TNR programs.

In what country do you live?　　Not in Japan I am guessing!

In our present location and previous location stray cats fighting all night, cat feces all over the place, call and are told no such services in either Tokyo ward.

I live right in the middle of Japan. Perhaps busier city officials don't do anything but out in the burbs they come quickly.

Many people get to a breaking point if you don´t listen to them.

Which is no excuse for beating someone over the head with a hammer.

The incident happened at 4am.

Being drunk is also no excuse for beating someone over the head with a hammer.

First, no one knows why violence was used against that man.

Then, feeding stray cats is provoking many nuisances.

Many people get to a breaking point if you don´t listen to them.

We will probably never know alas.

Yes to animal love, yes to animal minimal care responsibilty (spaying,neuturing, vaccination). It is a pity there is that lack in Japan.

wallace

Today 12:04 pm JST

Did you try surrounding your property with PET bottles filled with water? Many old dears swear by it.

Old wive's tale like butter on a burn doesn't work cause more problems than helps.

Isn't it interesting how in other countries stray dogs and cats are treated the same but in Japan no one would even think about neutering a stray dog and releasing it again and don't give the "dogs are dangerous" stuff a Chihuahua and a cat the darn cat will do far more damage to you than that chihuahua or toy poodle.

Poor oji-san

i think people caring for strays are among the best people in this world. I just dont understand those who dislike strays too much or so afraid of bacteria. Hey! You, a human being, is a much bigger vessel of most hideous bacteria! Even if you wash often or desinfect you are still a whole bunch of bacteria.

Japan is such a sad country for strays, even feeding them is not allowed. No system or strong volunteer activity groups that take strays, treat them and find trustworthy families for them. Thats how its been in my city for many years. Compared to some people in my city, Im just a small fry, but since 2019 my sister and I have saved around 7 cats and found families for them, my sis also has saved a dozen of puppies. And she has just as me a full time job! And a family. If theres a will theres a way. Not always we can take strays of course, so at least feeding them is a big moral deed. Being unkind to strays always comes with concequences.

Did you try surrounding your property with PET bottles filled with water? Many old dears swear by it.

Many people feed the pigeons whose dropping damage buildings.

Sure you shouldn't feed strays as they hang around but I'm sorry you don't deserve to be bashed with a hammer.

Doesn’t matter how you feel about cats. There’s no excuse for hitting someone over a head with a hammer because you don’t like them.

cleo

Today 10:46 am JST

Thank you, blue. I hope Antiquesaving reads your post and educates him/herself on TNR programmes.

> My own cat is properly vaccinated and spayed but she doesn’t have a clipped ear because she’s a pet, not a stray.

I don't need to be "educated" must be nice to be so superior!

Not all of Japanese cities or wards participate in TNR and ours doesn't.

Then I will return the "educate yourself" look up the damage to wildlife stray cats cause neutered or not! They are not part of the natural environment and are the number one cause of loss of birds more than loss of habitat, more than skyscrapers, windows, wind turbines, etc.. all combined.

So keep those little killing machines inside where they belong, they are not wild animal, they are not native to the environment.

You care about animals then keep domestic cat off the streets.

I don't find a dead cat weekly in my tiny garden, I do find dead birds always the same injuries and cat fur.

The topic is the violent assault of a 75-year man hit with a hammer. He wasn't breaking any laws but the attacker did.

nyaa nyaa.

Some municipalities do catch, neuter/spay, and release feral cats, but not nearly enough. Those cats can be identified by the little notch clipped out of the tips of their ears, which make their ears look like cherry blossom petals, hence the name "sakura neko". Feeding them will still result in the continued nuisance of their feces/urine and the often devastating effect they have on local avian populations, but the effect should be finite as it would be only for the rest of that fixed cat's life. However, the vast majority of feral cats are not fixed, and since people who feed them them do so indiscriminately, so all they are doing is allowing the stray population to multiply and the problems to persist. Lots of sympathy for stray cats in the comments, but it's precisely that sympathy that enables more little cute feral kittens and causes the stray cat problem to perpetuate. If you really care about feral cats so much, donate that cat food money to your local sakura neko program, and if there isn't one where you live, pressure your local government to start one.

Thank you, blue. I hope Antiquesaving reads your post and educates him/herself on TNR programmes.

My own cat is properly vaccinated and spayed but she doesn’t have a clipped ear because she’s a pet, not a stray.

Nisinari Ward is hardly what I would call a nice neighborhood.

A number of elderly people in my building feed stray cats. I don’t like it because the cats then keep coming back and they’re gross. But it’s basically like a hobby for the elderly. Just 4am is an odd hour. I just complained to my landlord and he put up a warning sign in the lobby. There’s a lot of pent up anger in Japan but what kind of person would attack a harmless old man feeding a cat?

hit the old man with a hammer on his head? whoever did it should go to jail for long time.

just for feeding a cat? unbelievable.

WA4TKG

Today 09:31 am JST

Why is an old guy getting beaten while feeding a cat more important than two people actually DEAD and their murderer self hung, less important?

> How do you decide which gets the bigger headline?

Because you are a day late!

That other story was top news yesterday.

The cat man is the newest story.

Bashing an elderly man in the head with a hammer? What a hero. I hope this trash loses everything and is put in prison for years where he cops it.

Why is an old guy getting beaten while feeding a cat more important than two people actually DEAD and their murderer self hung, less important?

How do you decide which gets the bigger headline?

Rodney, how do you know the cats aren't vaccinated?

So you know someone vet going around giving these cats vaccinations for free? I never heard of that.

Rabies vaccine isn't mandatory for cats in Japan only dogs so 100% sure on that,

Ever ask why most stray cats always seem to have gunk in their eyes?

It is from certain feline diseases some that are prevented by vaccines and can be transmitted to people.

Did you know that cats with clipped ears have been "fixed" so that they can't reproduce anymore?

Where did you get that but if false information.

I had cats in Japan both were fixed neither had "clipped" ears,

The only cats I have ever seen with missing ear tips are strays and that was caused from all the fighting they do over territory and females.

They do "number two" everywhere? What do you think we humans do to nature, we do more than "number two."

Do you go to the toilet in your neighbour's yard? I don't.

I use a toilet and the city treats the water before releasing it.

These cats don't have a home, many have been abandoned by humans, some are born on the streets, and we humans have the same problem, society has forgotten the poor and hungry, we should stop caring for them as well?

Fine then you organize a group Catch them either fine them homes where people will keep them inside or euthanize them.

If you're an animal lover, how can you even think of running them over with your car or even say something like that? C'mon man....

The problem is the so called animal lover, if you really love animals, stop feeding strays, they kill other wild native animals just for fun,

Catch them neuter and vaccinate them and find them a home that will keep them indoors.

But no the so-called animal lover will feed the things so they breed more and think how cut the kittens are and feed them also.

Sometimes cats and pigeons are the only company someone has, especially elders.

Despicable act, but we are talking about Nishinari here, the slum of Japan, way too many unfits wandering around.

Speed

Today 08:35 am JST

A person being smashed in the head for providing food, love and care for another living being. I think humans may be losing their way

Ok the violence I don't agree with.

But I also don't agree with everything else you say.

They want to provide food, love, care, then catch one, take it home, have it cleaned and neutered and keep it indoors where it belongs.

You like living things?

Then make sure little snowball is neutered and inside and not out dropping infected feces on people's property, having more unwanted snowballs and killing millions upon millions of wild birds just for fun, because even the simplest search will tell you and others that domestic cats kill more birds that windows, windmills, etc.. combined and they do it for fun not for food.

NOMINATION

Today 07:55 am JST

Well instead of attacking people, you can call animal control if these cats are upending your life. Animal control here takes care of these problems quickly here actually from people I know that had cats taking over their yards

In what country do you live?

Not in Japan I am guessing!

In our previous home the barking of the dogs by neighbours we and others call the police, the city, nothing done.

In our present location and previous location stray cats fighting all night, cat feces all over the place, call and are told no such services in either Tokyo ward.

I even put cages to catch them and when I did the city told me it was my problem to find a place to take them.

Seems the only place are volunteer groups that often end up giving them to people who, then just let them outside again.

utorsaToday  07:56 am JST

Brutally smashing a peaceful elderly person’s head in multiple times with a hammer. Disgusting and cowardly.

A "peaceful elderly person" is a huge assumption. This article does not give enough information to determine why he was beaten with his own hammer.

Definitely shouldn’t hit anyone in the head with a hammer. And if you want to feed a homeless cat take it home with you. Don’t encourage it or it’s friends to roam around the area not everyone likes cats.

A person being smashed in the head for providing food, love and care for another living being. I think humans may be losing their way.

Rodney, how do you know the cats aren't vaccinated? Did you know that cats with clipped ears have been "fixed" so that they can't reproduce anymore? They do "number two" everywhere? What do you think we humans do to nature, we do more than "number two." These cats don't have a home, many have been abandoned by humans, some are born on the streets, and we humans have the same problem, society has forgotten the poor and hungry, we should stop caring for them as well? If you're an animal lover, how can you even think of running them over with your car or even say something like that? C'mon man....

Don't hit people in the head with a hammer. And don't feed stray cats. You shouldn't do either.

Brutally smashing a peaceful elderly person’s head in multiple times with a hammer. Disgusting and cowardly.

@Rodney As an animal lover maybe you could do something to help out!

Well instead of attacking people, you can call animal control if these cats are upending your life. Animal control here takes care of these problems quickly here actually from people I know that had cats taking over their yards.

Getting annoyed by other people disregarding proper social rules is understandable, but the moment he choose to be violent about it he showed he is much worse than that.

“[I] don’t believe in violence, but I dream of doing this.” Little bit of a contradiction there?

Some guy feeds stray cats outside my local train station. They are unvaccinated and do number twos everywhere. In the evening, about seven cats sit on the road or footpath. As an animal lover I can’t run them over in my car. Such people should adopt these cats and care for them at their homes.