Complaint: "Children cry when they see cats"... Lodging owner: “I have never been abused.”

Complaint: "Children cry when they see cats"... Lodging owner: “I have never been abused.”

(Boryeong = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Joo-hyung = The police began an investigation after suspicions arose that an employee of a lodging company in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province, abused a stray cat that entered the lodging facility.

According to the Chungnam Boryeong Police Station on the 28th, the police received a complaint and complaint requesting to investigate a local lodging company on suspicion of violating the Animal Protection Act.

The complaint and indictment filed jointly by Mr. A, who was at the lodging facility, and the animal rights group Care, included suspicions that Mr. B, an employee of the company, abused and killed a stray cat that entered the lodging facility on the afternoon of the 27th.

When the two stray cats entered the lodging facility, Mr. B went in holding metal tongs and a broom. Immediately after, dozens of sounds as if they were being struck with a blunt instrument were heard dozens of times for about 5 minutes, and then Mr. B came out holding the nape of the neck of the limp, immobile stray cat with his hand.

Mr. A, who visited this place with his pregnant wife and children aged 8 and 6 and saw the cat lying motionless, complained to Mr. B, and reportedly left the lodging company after receiving a refund.

The accuser reportedly filed a complaint against Mr. B, adding charges of emotional child abuse (violation of the Child Welfare Act), saying, "The children who watched the cat suffered from great anxiety and shed tears."

The police conducted a face-to-face investigation of Mr. B along with an on-site investigation, and the Boryeong City Hall Animal Protection Team is also investigating the facts regarding Mr. B.

In response to this, Mr. B strongly denies the suspicion, saying he never hit or killed a stray cat.

Mr. B explained to Yonhap News, "At that time, two stray cats had entered the facility that was being used by guests, so they went in with a broom and struck the facility to drive them out," adding, "One went outside, and the other cat, which appeared to be about 3 to 4 months old, got caught in a gap in the screen, so it was caught, pulled out, and brought out."

At the same time, he repeatedly complained of injustice, saying, "A one-sided claim is being spread online, but it is not true. I have never hit or killed a cat," and added, "I usually prepare separate food and give it to stray cats, so there are five or six stray cats living nearby. This abuse is unreasonable."