Police release IP on incident in which a cat was thrown into a river

GEORGE CITY: Police launched an investigation into an incident in which a cat was stuffed into a gunny sack, thrown into the river and left to die in an incident in Jalan Kota Giam, Jelutong yesterday.

Timur Laut District Police Chief ACP Razlam Ab Hamid said police were conducting a follow-up investigation based on a police report received on the incident.

“Further investigations are ongoing, including the search for the suspect involved, and the police have initiated an investigation under section 29(1) of the Animal Cruelty Act 2015,” he said when contacted by Bernama today.

Previously, a 66-second video clip went viral on social media showing several people retrieving a jute sack from the river and finding a dead cat inside, presumably thrown into the river by a suspect.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Animal Association President Arie Dwi Andika said the incident of jute sacks filled with cats being thrown into the river was not the first and his association had received information about such incidents several times in the past.

Arie said that at around 8:30am yesterday, a witness saw a man throw a jute sack stuffed with a cat into the river. The witness tried to rescue the cat but found it dead.

“After that, the witness, who is also a representative of our association in Penang, filed a complaint with the police and we asked the authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and arrest the suspect in question,” he said.