Trial of man accused of kicking rabbits to death on Japan’s rabbit island comes to an end

Presiding judge has stern words for defendant in Okunoshima animal abuse case.

It’s hard to imagine a place giving off more warm and fuzzy vibes than Okunoshima, and that’s because of its warm and fuzzy residents. Located in the Seto Inland Sea within the boundaries of Hiroshima Prefecture, Okunoshima is also known as “Rabbit Island,” and there’s no esoteric wordplay going on in that nickname, as the island really is home to hundreds of wild rabbits.

Also hard to imagine is that someone would see those cute creatures and to decide to kick them as hard as he could, but that’s what 25-year-old Riku Hotta did. In the evening on January 21, Hotta was seen kicking a rabbit on one of the island’s footpaths, with witnesses restraining him while the police were summoned. That incident followed multiple incidents of dead rabbits with broken bones being found on the island, and Hotta was arrested on charges of violating the Animal Protection Law, standing trial at the Kure district court in Hiroshima Prefecture.

▼ The rabbits are quite used to the presence of people, which, sadly, most likely made them easy targets for the abuser.

As if the circumstances of his arrest weren’t shocking enough, Hotta isn’t a local resident, and doesn’t even live in Hiroshima Prefecture. He lives in Shiga Prefecture, roughly half-way across the country from the island. Despite it being at least a four-and-a-half-hour journey from Shiga to Okunoshima, during the trial Hotta admitted to making two trips to the island in January, kicking and killing or injuring seven rabbits, for no reason other than his own twisted personal enjoyment.

“The acts of violence perpetrated by the defendant were highly dangerous and malicious, and there is no room for leniency in regards to his [stated] motive of wanting to see how the rabbits would react to being abused,” said presiding judge Wataru Shimazaki in rendering a guilty verdict. “Making two trips to the island from very far away within a single month is also recognizable as habitual criminal behavior.”

Hotta did make a statement of remorse during the trial, and in light of that the court has handed down a one-year prison sentence for him, suspended for three years, meaning that he will be able to avoid spending time in jail as long as he commits no crimes within that period. With visitors to Okunoshima generally arriving at a single ferry port, it also seems likely that Takehara, the municipality that the island belongs to, will be barring him from setting foot on the island again, though no public announcement to that effect has been made.

Source: NHK New Web
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