Japan arrests man in Iwate twice for hamster massacres

Police said Tuesday they had arrested a man over the killing of 30 hamsters at a hotel, weeks after he was detained for stomping to death 20 others.

The 36-year-old high school staffer in Iwate Prefecture teamed up with two different women at love hotels, where police said he massacred hamsters in a violation of animal protection laws.

The two women have also been arrested, said Hiroyuki Nasu, a senior police official in the city of Miyako, Iwate.

The main suspect’s arrest on Monday was for his “gratuitous killings” in late March of about 30 hamsters, carried out in collusion with a 20-year-old woman, Nasu said.

The suspect’s smartphone confiscated by police contained videos filming the killings, as well as text messages with the woman that showed them plotting the act.

“Where are we going to kill the hamsters and have fun?” Nasu quoted one of the exchanged messages as saying.

The suspect was first detained in July for the separate killing in February of around 20 hamsters with a 19-year-old woman.

Police will continue to investigate the suspect and examine whether he may have committed other similar acts, the police official said.