Video of Drive-By Cat Killings Prompts Arrest in Saudi Arabia<br />On Thursday, the government of the Mecca region, which includes Jidda, said<br />that "the man who shot the cats has been arrested in Jidda, and the investigation is ongoing and the laws will be implemented."<br />#عاجلبعد توجيه #أمير_مكةتم القبض على مطلق النار على القطط بـ #جدة وجاري التحقيق معه وستطبق الأنظمة بحقه#نريد_محاسبة_سفاح_القطط#إمارة_مكة pic.twitter.com/7PpS5Y0UBB The man was arrested on Thursday and taken in for questioning,<br />but by nightfall he had been released on bail, according to local news reports.<br />"For those who tell me it’s haram" — forbidden — "to kill cats: I have to wash four cars every week," he says in the video, which users captured<br />and posted to YouTube because Snapchat videos normally disappear after 24 hours.<br />A 26-year-old Saudi man was arrested on Thursday after officials said he had posted a Snapchat video<br />in which he killed at least three cats with what appeared to be a rifle, some from a moving car.<br />In the video, which was taken in a residential neighborhood in the port city of Jidda and which prompted a social media uproar, the man could be heard saying<br />that he was shooting the cats because they had repeatedly left a mess on his four cars.<br />The man recorded himself with a digitally altered image — a cat’s ears<br />and nose were superimposed on his face, using one of Snapchat’s filters — and modified his voice, which was made to sound like that of a high-pitched robot.<br />Under animal welfare guidelines that the Saudi government promulgated in 2013, animal abuse is punishable by a fine of up<br />to 50,000 riyals (about $13,000) for a first offense, going up to 400,000 riyals (about $106,000) for a repeat offense.
