Cheonan Street Cat Abuser Was a Famous Chef...Undisclosure of SNS

ⓒYonhap News Agency

A man suspected of abusing a street cat with an iron rod in Cheonan was reported to be a famous dessert cafe chef A.

According to the Cheonan Newspaper on the 26th, A, who was sent to a mart in Seongseong-dong, Cheonan, last month and abused a street cat taken care of by his owner, was found to be the operator of a famous dessert cafe.

Mr. A ran dessert cafes in Gangnam and Cheonan, Seoul, and gained fame through the media and lectures. The SNS account, which was actively operated, has been switched to private after the controversy.

A is accused of abusing and capturing a street cat by beating it with an iron rod in the parking lot of a mart in Seongseong-dong, Seobuk-gu, around midnight on the 4th of last month. It is reported that A's crime was found while looking at CCTV to check it when the cat was not seen at the cafeteria set up by the mart staff on one side of the parking lot.

CCTV footage showed A swinging an object believed to be an iron rod at the cats approaching after watching the food. The cats that were hit by the iron rod struggled in pain and ran away, and a kitten was caught drooping.

In a police investigation, A stated, "I kept opening trash bags near my house, so it was messy and looked bad, so I caught them and moved them somewhere else."

As for the reason for the abuse, he said, "When I tried to catch (the cat), another cat ran in and interfered with me, so I swung (the weapon) to prevent me from coming," and mentioned that the missing cat was released at a rest stop on the way to Seoul.

The Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, which took over the case, has ordered the Cheonan Seobuk Police Station to conduct a supplementary investigation.

RAY, a campaigner of the Animal Rights Citizens' Solidarity, posted a petition calling for severe punishment against A, earning more than 10,000 signatures.

Reporter Lee Yu Na from Digital News Team.