Man kicks bunny to death on Japan’s Rabbit Island, may have killed as many as 77 others

Police arrest man who apparently traveled half-way across the country to kill a rabbit with his foot.

Okunoshima translates loosely to “Big Old Field Island,” but the island’s unofficial name is much more memorable and distinct: Usagijima, or “Rabbit Island.” It’s a completely accurate nickname, too, as the Hiroshima Prefecture island in the Setonaikai Inland Sea is home to some 500 wild rabbits, who you’ll start spotting almost as soon as you get off the boat.

The massive level of cuteness makes Okunoshima a popular day-trip destination, and we made sure to put it on our travel itinerary as quickly as we could. However, it turns out that one visitor had less than warm and fuzzy intentions, as he’s now been arrested and is under suspicion for kicking dozens of the bunnies to death.

Between November 26 and January 12, a total of 77 rabbits on Okunoshima have been found dead with unnatural conditions such as broken bones and other unnatural injuries. Considering that part of the reason there are so many rabbits on Rabbit Island is the absence of natural predators, it’s very odd for so many to have died in such manners, and officials from the Ministry of the Environment have been trying to determine what’s going on, with public statements made about the situation as recently as January 20.

With this heightened awareness of the animals’ wellbeing, on the evening of January 21, at around 5:30 p.m., a man was spotted on Okunoshima kicking a rabbit that had ventured out onto a walkway. The witness restrained the man, who was later identified as a 25-year-old office worker named Riku Hotta, until the police arrived on the scene and took him into custody. The rabbit he reportedly kicked died shortly thereafter.

The incident is appalling on multiple levels, one of which is how it exploited the rabbits’ psychology. Though wild, Okunoshima’s rabbits are extremely accustomed to being around people. Visitors to the island can purchase packs of rabbit snacks, and the regular friendly interactions have made the animals far from apprehensive around humans.

A bizarre wrinkle to the case is that while Hotta was arrested on the spot on charges of violating Japan’s Animal Protection Law, he’s not a local resident, he actually resides in the city of Otsu in Shiga Prefecture, roughly half-way across the country from Okunoshima.

▼ By train and ferry it’s about four and a half hours from Otsu to Rabbit Island.

However, the 77 suspicious rabbit deaths occurred in three clusters, taking place in bunches of three to four days each in late November, mid-December, and early January, so the person behind them wouldn’t have needed to be a full-time local resident. Because of that, investigators are now looking into the possibility that Hotta was involved in the other deaths that have been occurring as well, not just the one he caused on January 21.

Source: Yahoo! Japan News/Kyodo, Chugoku Shimbun, Asashi Shimbun Digital
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