crime

Man arrested for forcing his pet cat to swim

43 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© KYODO

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

43 Comments
Login to comment

What a purrr-fect disaster.

All jokes aside, I wonder if it was the poor feline who called the animal welfare association itself.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Throw him in the Pacific and let him tread water and ask him if it would be considered abuse.

-3 ( +7 / -10 )

When I was young, my family had a cat that loved water. He would jump in the bath anytime he could. I know a cat owner in Japan whose cat has never left the apartment in 6 years..... Isn't this cruelty?

4 ( +12 / -8 )

All our cats and dogs love water when we were kids. Not so much the hamsters and rabbits.

NStar channel five shows animals on its news show at the end lately. One was of a swimming cat. Any charges against them?

4 ( +8 / -4 )

Glad the cat escaped relatively unharmed, and hope it found a more loving family. As for this clown, who probably thought he was being funny and cute, glad he was arrested. Perhaps he'll think twice about his behaviour next time.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

he has given the cat to an acquaintance. His current residence is in Toride, Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo.

the man, the cat, or...?

1 ( +3 / -2 )

weird news, lets see what is going to be the punishment (other than being publicly shamed as animal abuser).

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Perhaps he wasn’t teaching it to swim. He just likes his pussy to be clean.

1 ( +7 / -6 )

What makes this news is that the police have actually done something about animal abuse.

I believe a neighbour has killed two of my cats this year and more before. I believe he has been trapping them and killing them.

The police refuse to investigate. They refuse to ask the neighbour any questions. They said they have no evidence. I asked if I could search his house to see if he had a cat trap. They said I couldn't. I told them they could and should. They said they couldn't because they had no evidence. They told me to get security cameras and if I could get a video of the neighbour killing a cat, they would take some action.

They kept insisting that they could not search his car without any evidence even after I pointed out that a few years ago they had insisted on searching my car in a supermarket car park with no evidence.

The police doing something and enforcing the law is what makes it news.

The day after I reported the murder of my cat at the police station a poster warning about the penalties abusing animals disappeared.

8 ( +11 / -3 )

i'm surprised the cat didn't scratch his face off for putting him/her thru this trauma!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Unfortunately, @gaijintaveller/stormcrow “pets” in Japan, for the most part, are regarded as “property”. The idiot arrested chose to put his abuse on social media and was, thankfully, arrested.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

I know a cat owner in Japan whose cat has never left the apartment in 6 years..... Isn't this cruelty?

You talking about me? It's actually 10 years, not 6, and she's purrfectly happy, thank you very much.

Outdoor cats cause havoc with local small wildlife and run the risk of themselves becoming prey for, in our area at least, hawks and civets, not to mention cat-hating neighbours (see gaijintraveller's post). They can also cause traffic accidents.

https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk491/files/inline-files/Cats-Indoors_or_Outdoors.pdf

Indoor cats live on average 10 to 15 years; outdoor cats, 2 to 5 years. Letting your cat out to roam the streets, is what's cruel.

Keep them home, keep them safe. Make sure they have an exceedingly satisfying environment indoors.

If you must let them out, set up a safe, covered run for them in the garden, or train them to walk on a lead and take them out yourself.

As for this plonker who apparently thought it was a laugh to force his cat into the bath, throw the book at him. And yeah, drop him out at sea a good ways off shore, and see how he likes it.

7 ( +14 / -7 )

From the amount of dead cats I see on the road, they should make a law that cats are kept indoors. Just letting your cat wander freely around the neighborhood should be considered abuse.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

I used to take my kitten to the beach swimming and she enjoyed it a lot ....

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Seem to recall @cleo 11:52am you also trained your companion to use in another aspect of the room, other than the bath? - Convenience for the pet and the family. (How was that possible? My pet catch reach.)

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Hopefully he is a first time'feline'.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Mr KiplingT

I know a cat owner in Japan whose cat has never left the apartment in 6 years..... Isn't this cruelty?

Nope. Letting a cat roam outdoors to be hit by cars, attacked by other animals, abused by sadistic humans, exposed to internal and external parasites, etc is animal cruelty.

Keeping them home in safety and comfort is the proper caring for a domestic cat. Of course, if the cat really enjoys the outdoors, there are harnesses and leashes designed for cats that work quite well for bringing them on walks and such, while remaining safe.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Slow news day at JT?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Johansawada

i'm surprised the cat didn't scratch his face off for putting him/her thru this trauma!

Did you read the article? It was a kitten, not a grown cat.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

To add insult to injury:

His current residence is in Toride, Ibaraki Prefecture

Off with his head!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I’m very surprised and encouraged that this is news.

There’s a restaurant nearby me where they’ve kept a wild pig in a very small cage for about two years. They’re fattening him up for an eventual eating. Hot, cold, rain or shine he’s stuck there right next to the road, barely able to turn around. Wouldn’t this also fall under the animal protection law??

4 ( +5 / -1 )

What? I love animals, but this news?

1 ( +3 / -2 )

What a purrr-fect disaster.

It's not nice, it's definitely something worth having a growl about.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

What’s wrong with that ????

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Did you read the article? It was a kitten, not a grown cat.

That's the way, sink your claws in.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

My cat act like the world is ending whenever it's time for his usual bath. I am forcing it against his will. Now come arrest me

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Cleo is quite correct.

Gaijintraveller, really cats can be very happy as indoor cats. I didn’t believe it until I came to Japan and reluctantly acquired a cat in need. My apartment was just not practical for a cat to come and go outdoors.

I consulted a vet recommended to me and he was very happy to hear my cat would stay inside always. It was a surprise to me. My cat has lived only indoors for many years, very happy and healthy.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The idea that ‘cats hate water’ is inaccurate. They do not choose to bath and self groom but a cat is purrfectly capable of swimming (sorry I couldn’t resist that one) and don’t have any innate fear of or aversion to water per se. Whether this instance constituted cruelty depends on the circumstances and particular actions of the individual.

Indoor/outdoor cats, if properly looked after and the creature is happy, neither is cruel. One of my neighbours who used to live in a flat has indoors cats who though they now live in the country flatly refuse to go outside (pun intended!), another has a cat who often chooses not to go indoors except for food or bad weather, the cat flap is always unlocked it’s his choice and he is over 10 years old and fit as a fiddle, always comes round to have his ears scratched when we are in the garden and even gets on with our dog (another myth busted).

Obviously animal cruelty is not high on the list of Japanese police priorities, from my point of view unacceptable but I am English. I thought modern Japanese people were fairly pet friendly?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

WTH why didn't he buy a fish? They usually swim better.

If you want something who can fly, buy a bird.

If you want something who can walk, buy a dog/cat.

If you want something who can swim, buy a fish.

If you want something who can do all three, buy a duck.

Yeah! Duck rulez!

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Some cats love to swim, and like playing in the water. I owned one that loved jumping into a bucket of water then jumped out and started shaking and drying like taking a bath.

So it all depends on what they were trained to tolerate.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Our last cat was an indoor/outdoor cat and lived to 22. He got to exercise his natural behaviours, or at least most of them (we had his pockets picked early). He, judging by the times he joined, appeared to love a warm bath or shower.

Unless this man was causing real distress to the animal, the calls for severe retribution are way over the top.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

What a moron!

The majority of cats do not like water- this guy is pathetic…

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Some cats love to swim, ..... it all depends on what they were trained to tolerate

There's a world of difference between loving a thing, being trained to tolerate that thing, and having that thing forced on you.

We have anecdotes here of cats that enjoy a shower, like to go to the beach, etc. Great, If that's what your kitty likes, then go for it.

But the article states clearly that the plonker forced his kitten into the bath. The moron even put it on video for all the world to see. The Mainichi adds that the water in the bathtub was too deep for the cat's feet to touch the bottom, and that the police were getting dozens of calls a day from people who had seen the video, indicating to me at leas that it was obvious the cat was in distress.

And these long-lived outdoor cats - great anecdotes. The fact remains that the average lifespan of an outdoor cat is low single digits, so those lucky cats who lived long happy lives terrorising the local wildlife merely raise the average, meaning that other outdoor cats actually have even shorter lives.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Arrested for bathing a cat. Japanese so called justice strikes again. An imbecile Japanese judge has issiued a warrent and another imbecile Japanese judge will rubber stamp a 23 day detention unless he confesses.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

At least he allowed the cat to swim and wasn't forcing the cat to sink.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Goodbye Kitty.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Come on leave the guy alone he was just keeping his pussy cat clean ....

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Water too deep, bath walls slippery and too high? No island to climb onto? Sounds to me as if the kitten was panicking.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites