National Taiwan University (NTU) student Chan Hao-yang (陳皓揚) has confessed to killing a cat named Stripes (斑斑) that belongs to a restaurant in Taipei.

Stripes was reported missing on Aug. 2, and CCTV footage shows Chan putting the cat into a bicycle basket and riding off. Chan later turned himself in to the police and admitted he killed Stripes when it attacked him while he was trying to catch it. He then dumped the body into Xindian River.

This was not the first time Chan had killed and tortured cats.

The suspect also killed a stray cat, Orange (大橘子), on Dec. 28, 2015. His second confession comes around three months after he was charged in May for killing Orange.

Chan, an exchange student from Macau, was also suspected of killing three other cats when he returned home after being suspended from NTU for killing Orange.

Under Article 25 of Taiwan’s current Animal Protection Act, Chan faces a fine of between NT$100,000 (US$3,000) and NT$1 million, as well as a prison for up to one year.

Amendments to the act were made after military personnel uploaded a video of torturing a white puppy to death. The Legislative Yuan's Economics Committee passed the amendment on July 7.

Under the new laws, the fine for torturing or killing pets was raised to more than NT$200,000 and less than NT$2 million and the prison sentence was increased to up to two years.

Consuming dog and cat meat was also made illegal for the first time under the amendment.

Chan’s court hearing for the killing of Orange will be on Aug. 16. Since news broke out of his second killing, netizens have called for protests outside the courtroom and applied to be allowed to attend the hearing.

First Editor: Olivia Yang
Second Editor: J. Michael Cole