Japanese Man Sentenced To Torture And Kill Smalls On Okono Island

Tourists interact with rabbits on Okunoshima Island. (Wikimedia Commons/Jdlrobson)

JAKARTA - A man in Japan was convicted of torturing and killing rabbits on an island that is the habitat of the animal.

A Japanese court on Monday sentenced a man to one year in prison, with a three-year suspension, for torturing rabbits.

Riku Hotta, 25, killed or injured seven rabbits on Okuno Island (Kunoshima Island), also known as "Linci Island," in Hiroshima Prefecture by kicking them or stabbing scissors into their mouths, according to a decision at the Kure branch of the Hiroshima District Court, according to Kyodo News April 14.

Judge Wataru Shimazaki, condemned the attack as a crime, but said the defendant acknowledged the allegations and reflected on his actions.

Hotta was arrested on suspicion of animal torture in January after being seen kicking a rabbit, which later died, on a road on Okono Island, which is home to about 500 semi-giant rabbits.

Separately, the Ministry of Environment is considering installing additional surveillance cameras on the island in response to the incident.

Quoted from a number of sources, the rabbits on this island are descendants of rabbits released on the island which was developed as a park after World War II.

In times of war, the island played an important war in which there was a toxic gas factory for chemical warfare. In 1988, the Okunoshima Island Poison Gas Museum opened as advice on learning and dire warnings of toxic gas.