Hong Kong - Two Hong Kong men were Thursday beginning jail sentences for chasing and beating to death a cat out of boredom. Driver Tse Wing-lai, 24, and technician Leung Siu-tung, 19, were hanging around with a group of 10 teenagers and young men when they decided to go after the cat with sticks and poles.
Residents in the city's Siu Sai Wan district called police after witnessing the killing in March and finding the black and white female cat dead in a drain afterwards.
At a sentencing in Hong Kong's Eastern Court Wednesday, Tse was jailed for four months and Leung for three months after both admitted cruelty to an animal and incitement to ill-treat an animal.
The court heard Tse and Leung were among a group of 10 young people and decided to chase and kill the cat for entertainment because they were bored.
Magistrate Gary Tallentire described the offence as "serious and disturbing" and said neither defendant showed any sign of remorse for the killing.
A spokeswoman for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals told Thursday's South China Morning Post she did not feel the "lenient" jail terms reflected the seriousness of the offence.
The Hong Kong government last year toughened laws against cruelty to animals, making the offence punishable with a jail term of up to three years and a fine of up to around 25,000 US dollars.
Pet ownership has boomed in the former British colony in the past decade with more couples keeping cats and dogs as the city's birth rate declines to an all-time low.
