CHIBA (TR) – A 49-year-old man accused of shooting two cats with an air gun in separate incidents has admitted to dozens of other cases, police have revealed, reports TV Asahi (July 15).
“I have killed about 100 cats,” Yuichiro Hirata, a part-time employee, told police.
In the latest allegations, police this week accused the suspect of shooting a cat in the leg in a parking lot in Yachiyo City last November.
The pellet caused a bone in the animal’s leg to break, police said.
“I felt like I’d conquered a vulnerable cat,” the suspect said.
Dead cats with pellets in their bodies
Last month, police first arrested Hirata for shooting and killing another cat at a housing complex in the same city last December.
Hirata lives in Chiba City’s Wakaba Ward. In 2003, he became licensed to carry the air gun for hunting and other purposes.
Since then, many dead cats with air gun pellets in their bodies have been found near the residential area and in nearby Chiba City.