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This odd world: Kitten killing complaint baffles police
Police in Sleman were at a total loss when a group of animal lovers filed a criminal complaint against a man who shot dead a stray kitten and uploaded grizzly pictures of the killing to Facebook
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olice in Sleman were at a total loss when a group of animal lovers filed a criminal complaint against a man who shot dead a stray kitten and uploaded grizzly pictures of the killing to Facebook.
Grouped as the 'Animal Defenders', the activists sought legal action against Danang Sutowijoyo, who claimed on Facebook that he had shot and killed the kitten with an air rifle because it often stole his dinner. The news went viral on social media and triggered an online petition for legal action, a demand that cost Danang his job in a telecommunications company.
Brig. Djuweni, one of the police officers on duty, said it was the first time the police had received a formal complaint about the killing of a stray animal as far as he could recall and they had no idea which article in the criminal code to refer to.
'So we called in a team of detectives to handle the [animal lovers'] report,' he said on Thursday. 'This is the first occasion in the 30 years I have been with the police force.'
Ganesha Bimadhistya of the Animal Defenders' legal division insisted that cats were among the animals protected by law and offenders like Danang were subject to criminal charges as stipulated by Article 302:2 of the Criminal Code, a crime punishable by nine months' imprisonment.
'We want the police to take this offender to court so that such cases of cruelty against animals can never happen again,' he said as reported on tempo.co.
