A 53-year-old man said in court that he skinned and cooked his relative’s pet cat to feed his own dog, while the cat’s owner, who police say was helping him, has denied any involvement in the gruesome crime.
Defendant Tang Xungang pleaded guilty to one charge of using cat flesh for food in Tuen Mun Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
Two plainclothes police officers patrolling Pat Heung on Jan. 31 of this year reportedly saw the cat hooked onto a ladder outside the village home Tang and his second cousin, Shu Xingqao, shared.
The officers said they saw Tang skinning the cat with a knife while Shu burned its flesh with a blowtorch, Ming Pao reports. A pot of boiling water was also found nearby.
Tang, who worked at Shu’s vegetable farm, said under police caution that the cat had died from the cold weather. Shu told special magistrate Frances Leung that she found the cat dead on her farm on the morning of Jan. 31 and was told by her husband to bury it in the hillside, but “was too scared”.
That evening, Shu claimed Tang said, “The cat’s so big, it shouldn’t go to waste. Cook it for the dog to eat,” and then torched the animal’s flesh by himself.
They were both arrested on animal cruelty charges.
According to an autopsy report by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, the cat didn’t suffer any major trauma. Vets could not determine when or how the animal died.
Shu will go on trial on Nov. 29, after which she and Tang will be sentenced.
The maximum penalty for using cat flesh for food is a HKD2,000 fine and six months’ imprisonment.
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