crime

Trial begins for man over poisoning of 40 cats in Tokyo

18 Comments

A 33-year-old man went on trial Friday for poisoning over 40 cats in Tokyo's Ota Ward last year.

In the opening session before the Tokyo District Court, the defendant, Shinya Kuboki, admitted killing the cats and leaving their bodies strewn about a parking lot and a park, NTV reported.

Prosecutors said Kuboki, a computer programmer, mixed fatal pesticides with cat food to lure the unsuspecting cats. He was charged with violating the animal protection law.

During his opening statement, Kuboki -- who had a pet cat at home -- stated that he committed his crime out of a love for cats, and not some malicious act. He felt that it was sad that feral cats have such lonely and short lives. He said he got really irritated by local residents feeding stray cat and wanted to keep their population down.

Kuboki was arrested for strangling a cat. When questioned by police, Kuboki admitted that he had four other dead cats in the basket on the front of his bicycle.

The cats were found dead in parks and on streets between April and Aug 18. In some cases, the cats had some kind of foaming drooling from the mouth. Some of the cats were residents' pets, but most were strays.

All the cats were found dead within a 500-meter radius between Omorinishi 6-chome and Kamata 2-chome. Cat food was found beside beside the bodies.

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18 Comments
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Give the guy a medal. There are too many noisy cats being fed by people that dont want them in their own homes. These cats spread desise and kill birds. A few local pets to keep the mice down is enough.

-22 ( +5 / -27 )

Yeah, not everyone will agree, but I also think that this guy might be a hero. He didn't do it out of sadism. He wasn't even a cat-hater. I just hope the cats didn't suffer too much. I wonder what the maximum penalty would be for this?

-20 ( +4 / -24 )

Give the guy a medal. There are too many noisy cats being fed by people that dont want them in their own homes.

Yeah, sure, that's a great idea. This nutjob poisoned and strangled these animals out of his "love" for them and we should honor him for it. Mind you, some of the cats he killed were people's pets, not strays.

Humans are at the root of the problem for irresponsibly adopting pets without spaying/neutering them and indiscriminately abandoning them when they decide they're too much trouble. But hey, let's just blame the animals. Your way's a lot easier.

14 ( +17 / -3 )

I just hope the cats didn't suffer too much

Seriously!? He strangled and poisoned those cats. Not a quick way to die.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

"stated that he committed his crime out of a love for cats, and not some malicious act" This could be advice through his lawyer to get the minimum sentence possible, sounds like the guy needs a mental not a medal i.m.o. If i was my cat that died I would do some strangling but not on a cat. @cdanr, totally agree Humans are the root cause.

12 ( +14 / -2 )

There should be a zero tolerance approach on such acts of senseless barbarism.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Kuboki was arrested for strangling a cat.

What a way to show "love" for cats. If he was truly concerned about the pet population, he should have tried educating his neighbors about not feeding strays and having their pets spayed or neutered. He could have also called animal control to have animals picked up.

It seems that he just got his jollies off of torturing and killing living things. This could have escalated into human lives if he was not stopped.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Cats should not be free to roam the streets. If declawed and neutered I could overlook my position on this. Don't agree with the poisoning of them.

-13 ( +0 / -13 )

I honestly believe such a person has little, if any, value to society, and as such, such a despicable individual ought to be put out of his misery. Short of this, he will continue to be a burden, in some fashion, to society. There's no rehabilitation for the likes of this creature. He's nothing short of a monster, worthless to society. Hence, his execution may well serve to teach other monsters to think twice before doing their dirty deeds. Only of late I favor the death penalty. I now realize that for the good of society we must thin the herd from the monsters amongst us. Plain and simple, there are way too many monsters on the loose. Abusing animals will only escalate to abusing humans. IMHO, there's no need to wait for them to take that next step, from killing innocent animals, to killing and torturing people.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

MarkG: "Cats should not be free to roam the streets."

No, people like Kuboki should not be free to roam the streets. The punishment for the crime he faces isn't likely to be much, and so I hope he faces a single count of said punishment for every single cat he killed, and has to pay damages as well to the owners of the cats who were pets. Those calling a person who poisoned and/or strangled cats -- not a pretty death either way -- and was riding around with dead corpses in his bike basket, was doing NOTHING out of love for anyone or any thing. Lock him up for a good long time.

4 ( +9 / -5 )

The first few comments have really done me. How can any descent human think its ok to act in such a way. Sure the feral cat situation need to be addressed but praising this nut aint the way.

Back home i will always remember the add "a dog aint for christmas its for life" such a add would do well in Japan.

This guy is LOW and possible a future risk 2 human. Needs to be watched and given the heaviest sentence available.

Empathy people empathy.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

What this guy did was no way to handle the situation, even if he believed the feral cat population was getting out of control. It was very cruel to the cats, and also cruel for the people that found them dead.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

So he enjoys playing God? Put him in jail for a long time before he moves to humans. He might start poisoning seniors because they have short and lonely lives left?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

The feral cat population is indeed a real problem abetted by misguided people who feed the cats. What this guy did was wrong. In reality, the feral cats should be collected by Animal Control officers to either be adopted or culled. Irresponsible cat owners contribute to the problem by not neutering their pet cats and allowing them to roam freely. Dogs are not allowed the same freedom(leash laws) and suffer similar fates due to irresponsible owners. Cats also attack people sometimes. I've been attacked while walking with my dog(rescued from a shelter) by an aggressive cat requiring stitches to my leg. I used to have a cat until I discovered I was allergic.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

"In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this."

Terry Pratchett

1 ( +1 / -0 )

If the cats are owned by somebody, i.e. pets, they should NOT be roaming the streets. They are pets... like dogs, they are not legally allowed to be roaming the streets without a leash/lead.

there are too many people that think that cats are cute and feed them, not knowing that they might be feral or pets. If you feed my pet, and my pet does not eat my food, you are causing me to waste money and food.

If your pet cat is roaming the streets, it deserves the same treatment as if your pet dog is roaming the streets without you.

picked up, locked up, and euthanized for having irresponsible owners.

We have a huge problem here, and when we go to the city office to complain about the feral cat problem, they just tell us " dogs carry disease, not cats, cats are not a problem." But then they come back and say that the local bird population is decreasing and they urge all citizens to lock up your pets. they think dogs climb trees like cats.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

He had some sort of Cat torture fetish...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Someone has to get rid of the bothersome cats, I have many strays around where I reside and they damage my vehicles and property. I have been tempted to get rid of them but haven't since it is unlawful and immoral. I often catch people feeding the cats and caution them to no avail. I do like animals but I think stray cats should be put down.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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