Police in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, have arrested a 64-year-old man on suspicion of violating the Animal Welfare Law after he shot an arrow from a homemade blowgun into a stray cat last week.
According to police, Tomio Taguchi has admitted shooting the cat in a park near the Arakawa River sometime on April 28, and quoted him as saying he did it “half just for fun,” NHK reported.
A woman reported seeing the cat with an arrow protruding from its body on April 29. The woman said the stray cat would often come to her garden where she would feed it. She said she made repeated attempts to capture the cat but it ran away.
The cat came back to the woman’s house on Monday night and she was able to capture it. The cat was taken to a veterinary clinic where it was treated. The protruding part of the arrow was about 10 cms long.
Police said Taguchi emerged as a suspect after their files showed that he had been given a warning for shooting his homemade blowgun near the same area of the Arakawa River last summer.
Iron tubes and arrows were found in a search of Taguchi’s home, police said. Taguchi told police he used to go to the area to shoot his blowgun about once a month.
© Japan Today
27 Comments
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oyatoi
Stray cats; runaway boy.
3RENSHO
[paragraph 5] "...blowgun near the same area of the Arakawa Rive last summer."
[correction] Rive = River
Moderator: Thank you.
OssanAmerica
What a jerk. 64 year old with a stupid teenager mentality.
jeancolmar
People who start hurting animals end up hurting people.
nandakandamanda
“Just for fun” in the title.
“Half just for fun” in the article.
So what’s the other half?
nandakandamanda
Quick work by the police, putting two and two together. Almost lateral thinking at work!
3RENSHO
Google: "A famous quote from Mahatma Gandhi springs to mind here:" 'the true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members'.
Kumagaijin
Lots of house cats and strays in Kumagaya. I see cats in my yard every week and often hear them fighting and hissing at night. There has got to be a humane way of keeping them away.
kaimycahl
@nandakandamanda Perhaps misery!
“Just for fun” in the title. “Half just for fun” in the article. So what’s the other half?
Desert Tortoise
I'm glad the cat is being cared for and will apparently survive.
Yuuju
good job! They arrested him!
Gaijinjland
Hmm… not that I’m condoning cat shooting but in New Zealand that’s a national pastime that’s even encouraged by authorities because the strays are predators towards the indigenous birds or something like that.
dbsaiya
@Kumagaijin, understand your frustration, try checking if there are any TNR groups in your area. There are many volunteers where we live and they look after the stray/feral population and actively try to get the cats spayed or neutered. in addition to preventing further births, it reduces the fighting that you hear at night. There has been a significant drop in the number of strays and ferals, not only in our area but in other parts where I go jogging.
Desert Tortoise
Maybe the best "punishment" for the perpetrator would be to require him to work at an animal rescue for a specified number of hours over so many months.
u_s__reamer
Lock him up! (for fun)
Kazuaki Shimazaki
To be fair, fundamentally it is little different from a hunting pastime, only society feels different about pets.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Like with much of the law, best not to explore things that society doesn't like.
Jonathan Prin
Where I live, dozens of cats and no figths at night with hissing. There are well taken care of since all animal organizations require the neutering, and adopting one implies it, so problem solved. Why is Japan not able ? I remember of too many stray cats nearly everywhere I went in Japan. I love cats so please think about them and don't have half fun with any.
Other half of the reason was probably hunting, which raises the question about his behaviour with people next on the list.
He should be mentally follow very closely and maybe arrested, for everyone 's sake.
garypen
64 year old with a psychopathic teenager mentality.
rainyday
Most teenagers, even stupid ones, wouldn’t even think of doing something as depraved as this.
garypen
There is. It's called "Trap, Neuter, Release" or TNR. And, it's quite common in the US and some other countries.
Feral cats only have an avg lifespan of 5 years. So, if they can't reproduce, the numbers of strays could be drastically lowered in only a few years. That is, if TNR was strongly implemented here.
garypen
It is completely different than hunting for food. But, yes, it is no different than trophy hunting. And, FYI, society generally abhors and condemns trophy hunting.
That's why it is typically celebrated when trophy hunters are killed or injured by the very prey they attempt to murder.
garypen
This psycho shouldn't be let anywhere near animals, anymore than a pedo should be sentenced to work at an elementary school or a serial rapist at a women's shelter.
BengalTiger
i can simply say he is a psycho or a budding psycho. if you do not punish him fittingly, he will flirt this idea of being a psycho.
starpunk
Just for fun, huh? This isn't 'FUNNY' at all. It's sick.
There you go. Working at animal shelter or a pet store, cleaning up their doo-doo! That'll teach him.