This Man Was Arrested By Police For Forcing His Cat To Swim In The Bathtub

JAKARTA - A 59-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of molesting his own pet cat. The man allegedly forced his cat to swim in the bathtub.

The unemployed man posted photos and videos of the kitten being forced to swim on social media, Japanese police said.

The video shows a kitten swimming for one minute 29 seconds. Since cats usually don't like water, the action of a man named Masatoshi Hosono in June last year was considered a violation of animal protection laws.

Police said the man denied that what he was doing was part of the persecution.

The investigation was launched after someone who saw the man's posts on social media reported him to police in Aichi Prefecture last October.

An animal welfare group urged police to file criminal charges against Hosono the following month.

The man, who was living in Aichi's capital Nagoya when the alleged abuse occurred, told investigators he had given the cat to an acquaintance. His current residence is in Toride, Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo.