A man in San Antonio, Texas has been sentenced to eight years in prison after he threw a cat under an oncoming truck. Local media reported that the sentence was handed down on Friday, 18 August.

The incident itself took place in December when WTHR reports that 25-year-old Genaro Perales picked up a cat and threw it under a passing truck, killing the animal. The crime was said to have taken place near Martin Street in the city's downtown.

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The cat killed was reported as being a black and white feline named Sebastian. The long sentence came out of an investigation that found Perales had previous convictions that were described as being unrelated to the current charge.

San Antonio's Animal Care Services investigated along with the police department's Central Patrol Property Crimes Unit, KSAT reported. Perales was arrested at the scene of the crime.

According to a new survey, cats in the UK are under increasing threat of being stolen - with one figure from the researching suggesting an increase of 40% in the last two years. The big cat-like Bengals were at the most risk of being robbed, according to limit police data, and London and Kent were the areas people were most likely to lose a pet to the crime.