Hungry man kills and cooks cat in front of alarmed commuters

On Tuesday morning, commuters at Campiglia Marittima station in the province of Livorno, Italy, saw a man trying to cook a dead cat in the open. Horrified at the scene, some commuters started recording the incident. Complaints raised about the man's actions led to his arrest. He was eventually released by the carabinieri.

At around 7 am on June 30, passengers waiting for the train at the Campiglia Marittima station saw a homeless man trying to cook something on a pavement nearby. They soon realised that the desperate man was trying to cook a cat. Realising what the man was doing, a few people started capturing the man on video. The video was circulated on social media creating national outrage.

In the video, a woman is seen approaching the man. The woman shouts at him for the act of animal cruelty. Assuming that the feline was killed by the man before his attempt at cooking it, the woman told him that in Italy, cats are not eaten. She threatened the man that she would put him in prison for his actions.

According to La Nazione, the man kept saying that he was hungry and had no other way of getting food. The woman told the man to go and earn money. She also accused him of buying cigarettes with his money instead of food.

Eventually, the carabinieri arrived at the scene and arrested the man. The man kept insisting that he acted out of hunger.

It was revealed that the man is an asylum seeker from the Ivory Coast. While some sources claim that the man is 23-years-old, others claim he is 21.

The unnamed immigrant arrived in Italy in 2018. After staying at an immigration centre in Riotorto, he was refused international protection. He contested the refusal of his refugee status and is awaiting court proceedings in Florence. While he waits for his case to be tried, he has been rendered homeless.

The carabinieri eventually released the man after questioning.

The Northern League Member of European Parliament, Susanna Ceccardi, has called for an exemplary sentence. Speaking to Corriere della Sera, Ceccardi stated that Tuscany is not Wuhan so the killing and consumption of companion animals cannot be tolerated.