Man arrested over suspected rat poison in stray cat food at Kowloon park

Police have arrested a 34-year-old man who allegedly mixed rat poison into food left for stray cats in a Kowloon park and was found in possession of a knife.

The force said it received a report at around 3.30am on Saturday that a man was suspected of putting poison in cat food that animal welfare volunteers had placed near tennis courts in Shek Kip Mei Park.

Officers arrived at the scene and seized a packet of suspected rat poison and a fruit knife measuring around 14cm in length from the man.

“Following a preliminary investigation, the man was arrested on suspicion of cruelty to animals and possession of an offensive weapon and is currently being detained for further investigation,” police said.

The Sham Shui Po district crime squad is handling the investigation.

Animal welfare volunteers said they first discovered someone appearing to poison food and water left for stray cats last month.

A social media user said he installed a surveillance camera on a tree in the park and realised the suspect poisoned food and water at around 3am every Saturday. However, the camera did not capture his face.

The Threads user, pangxc15, saw someone resembling the suspect while passing through the area one night and decided to try to catch him in the act.

“Previously, we had failed attempts because he did not show up,” the user said.

“Today we tried again and started waiting from 1am until we finally caught him at around 3.10am. He was loitering for around 25 minutes and setting poison in the area.”

The user posted photos of bowls of tainted water and food, and a video of the suspect walking around an area of vegetation with a flashlight.