Animal control has no power to investigate or enforce the law.
The most recent case is the most disturbing. An individual in Northern Tokushima prefecture doing Trap-Neuter-Return and care-giver to those cats contacted us when two of the cats were found dead and their bodies abandoned at a neighborhood garbage collection area. Both cats had been most likely poisoned, evidetnt by the bloody foam coming from their mouths and noses.
I'm still gob struck that this case doesn't seem to be taken seriously. If it had been a wallet or a bicycle at that garbage site, would it have been given more consideration by law enforcement?
Media wasn't interested in the story, either. 3 or 4 cases could possibly make a story. I say that two cats lives being heinously ended is media worthy and pray that no more have the same end.
In all the cases of abuse, neglect, and abandonment over the past 17 years, someone always throws in the statement "well, some people don't like cats and strays cause problems for them". It's not about liking or disliking cats, it's about enforcing the law. And cats are protected under the animal welfare act.
It's 2023 and although Tokushima has improved leaps and bounds in animal welfare, we still have a long way to go if we can't rely on law enforcement or the media.
