A cat facing “arrest” for scratching a young boy from the mainland is gaining popular support, with tens of thousands of people signing a petition to save the feline, whose owners say he’s been falsely accused.
Marbles, who resides at a pharmacy in Kwun Tong, became a wanted cat last Friday when a woman from the mainland accused him of scratching her 5-year-old son while they were shopping at the store.
In the sights of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, the locally-loved neighborhood cat is firmly in the center of a social media campaign — and quickly gaining politically allies.
Pro-democratic lawmaker Roy Kwong has launched a petition, calling for authorities not to “arrest” him.
A Facebook page has also been set up, which notes some 34,000 have added their name to the petition.
In a Facebook post about the case, Kwong said the accuser blamed Marbles for a 5mm scratch on her son’s head but refused the shop owner’s offers to pay his medical expenses at a nearby clinic.
Kwong said the AFCD had now requested the owners surrender the alleged attacker, who remains at home and allegedly unable to eat, presumably from the shock of the whole episode.
A staff member at the pharmacy, however, told Ming Pao news that Marbles had been wrongly accused.
She referred to CCTV footage, which she said exonerated the little guy, whose plight has upset neighborhood residents.
Kwong as well as the Liberal Party have written to the AFCD to save Marbles.
Questioning the grounds of attempts to detain him, the Liberal Party said Marbles received regular vaccines, Hong Kong Free Press reported.
AFCD told the HKFP that the cat should be under rabies observation in accordance with the Cap 421 Rabies Ordinance.
They added the cat, which is now being cared for at a private veterinary clinic, was “not in a good physical state”.
Kwong urged people to support Marbles. Given Hong Kong’s long history of loving its shop cats, we’d say he’ll likely get his wish.
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