A physics teacher in Taiwan who dropped a cat onto the floor during a classroom experiment has faced a barrage of online criticism.
A video clip of the “experiment” which was filmed by a student went viral on social media at the beginning of March.
It shows the teacher holding the cat upside down with its legs in the air. He then let the cat fall onto the floor of the classroom, the news website setn.com reported.
The teacher, Li Feng, was apparently demonstrating a “conservation of angular momentum experiment”, which he did twice. The animal could be clearly heard squealing when it was dropped.
“It is fine to do this with a cat but we cannot do it with a dog,” Li tells his students in the video.
After receiving an avalanche of online criticism, Li apologised for his treatment of the cat, called Laifu, which belongs to him.
“As the owner of Laifu, I ignored the physical and mental harm to it brought by the experiment. As a teacher, I behaved controversially without considering that it would have a potential negative impact on my students and others,” Li said.
Li said he took Laifu for a veterinary check-up after the experiment. He also donated NT$50,000 (RM7,384 or US$1,500) to the Taiwan Homeless Animal Rescue Association.
His pet was adopted from a charity and it sleeps on his bed every night.
Li said he understood Laifu was scared during the experiment and he hoped the cat would forgive him.
Addressing his cat, he said: “I will buy you the best feline food to show how sorry I am.”
However, many people on social media have remained enraged by his actions.
“As the cat’s owner, did your heart not ache for it when it hit the floor?” one online observer asked.
“You are a cat abuser. You are teaching students to do bad things,” said another.
The ill-treatment of cats often makes headlines on social media.
Last year, a court in New Taipei City sentenced a man to seven months in jail and fined him NT$250,000 (RM36,921 or US$8,000) for killing his pet cat with boiling water in an attempt to force his girlfriend to return to him. – South China Morning Post
