Manila - A Philippine student tortured and killed a cat and then bragged about it in an online diary posting that horrified animal lovers, press reports said on Saturday.
Joseph Carlo Candare, 21, pleaded guilty on Thursday and a Manila court ordered him to take care of maltreated or abandoned pets as punishment, they said.
“I pulled it on its tail and threw it. Then like some pro wrestler I jumped on it and my feet landed on it's (sic) torso. Slam! Felt good! But the cat didn't die, well not yet,” the physics major wrote on his blog in April 2009.
The attack on the stray cat occurred at the University of the Philippines campus in Manila where Candare was a sophomore student, the metropolitan trial court in suburban Manila was reportedly told.
“I didn't see it die but Myles (his friend) said it coughed up blood or at least something like that.... This isn't the first time I've killed a cat but this time it's different,” the student blogged.
“Now everyone knows I hate cats. It's an unexplainable feeling towards them. Like some internal hatred. I just don't know why but I just cannot overcome my hatred for cats.”
The defendant later deleted the post after it was deluged with outraged and shocked comments, but the Philippine Animal Welfare Society got hold of a screenshot and filed charges, the reports said.
Candare became the first person in the country to be convicted of cruelty against a single animal, joining 40 other people who had been convicted of mass animal abuses, including the transport and sale of dog meat, they said.
The court ordered him to report to the group's suburban Manila animal shelter where he would be taking care of pets that were rescued from cruelty or neglect, they quoted the verdict as saying.
Court officials and spokesmen for the shelter could not be reached for comment Saturday. The shelter said on its website that it is currently caring for 227 cats and 49 dogs. - Sapa-AFP