The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office has indicted a man for allegedly abusing and killing a pet rabbit, which he said was affectionate to his wife, but often ignored him.
The man, surnamed Chen (陳), said the rabbit was indifferent to him and sometimes bit him, the office said.
“To teach the rabbit a lesson,” the man would drop it from a high place or pinch its neck with the door or its iron cage, the office quoted him as saying.
The rabbit was found dead by social workers, who visited the man’s house in May last year to investigate allegations of domestic violence, the office said.
Chen’s wife said he has a bad temper and was abusive toward her and the rabbit, it said.
The Taipei City Animal Protection Office conducted an autopsy and found that the rabbit had multiple internal and external injuries — enough evidence for the office to indict the man on Monday, it said.
According to the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法), people convicted of killing, intentionally hurting or causing injury to an animal, resulting in mangled limbs or vital organ failure, would face imprisonment of less than two years or a fine of between NT$200,000 and NT$2 million (US$6,639 and US$66,389).
In a separate case, Taipei prosecutors on Tuesday charged a medical intern surnamed Huang (黃) with unlawful entry and attempted burglary for allegedly entering the apartment of a former girlfriend to retrieve his cat.
The two broke up in 2018 and the woman, an intern at the same hospital, changed the lock to her rental apartment, they said.
To retrieve the cat and some personal belongings, Huang allegedly stole the key to her apartment from her bag when she was on duty, they said.
He made a copy of the key before returning it to her bag, they said, adding that Huang used the key to enter the apartment and encountered the woman’s sister inside.
Huang said he was not trying to steal anything and only wanted to retrieve his cat and other personal effects.
As Huang has yet to return his copy of the apartment key, the office charged him with unlawful entry and attempted burglary.
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