From Outrage to Cherry Trees: How Japanese Donors Gave €12k to Malta After ‘Cat Killer’ Scandal

**Malta’s Animal Lovers Rally as Japanese Donors Distance Themselves from ‘Cat Killer’**

Valletta – When news broke last week that a 30-year-old Japanese tourist had been caught on CCTV drowning a stray cat inside a plastic bag at St Julian’s Spinola Bay, the clip went viral across both islands within hours. But while Magistrate Monica Vella remanded the man in custody and charged him with animal cruelty – punishable by up to three years in jail under Malta’s 2014 Animal Welfare Act – an unexpected wave of donations began arriving from the Land of the Rising Sun itself.

In less than seven days, Japanese citizens have crowdfunded more than €12,000 for local animal charities, explicitly stating that the suspect “does not represent us”. The money, channelled through the Tokyo-based non-profit Animal Refuge Kansai (ARK), will be split between Malta’s Island Sanctuary, Cat Village Malta, and the MSPCA’s new trap-neuter-return programme for feral colonies in Birżebbuġa.

“We were stunned,” Island Sanctuary founder Janice Galea told *Hot Malta*. “First came an apology e-mail in perfect English, then the PayPal receipts started pinging. One donor wrote: ‘Please forgive one cruel man; thousands of Japanese love cats like family.’” By Monday morning, the sanctuary had already ordered 400 microchips and 50 insulated kennels, all stamped with a tiny rising-sun sticker and the Maltese cross – a symbolic olive branch between two island nations that both boast ancient cat-friendly folklore.

Cultural historians note that the gesture taps deep veins in both countries. In Japan, the maneki-neko (“beckoning cat”) is believed to bring fortune; in Malta, the archaeological remains at Ta’ Bistra catacombs show felines were mummified beside humans 2,000 years ago. “Cats occupy a sacred middle ground—neither wild nor fully domestic,” explains Dr Maria Muscat, anthropologist at the University of Malta. “When violence interrupts that covenant, communities react viscerally.”

The Maltese reaction was swift. Vigils were held outside the Japanese embassy in Ta’ Xbiex, and the Facebook group “Malta Cat Patrol” gained 8,000 new members overnight. But it is the Japanese response that has shifted the narrative from outrage to solidarity. ARK’s founder, British-born Elizabeth Oliver MBE, lived through the 1995 Kobe earthquake and says disaster philanthropy is ingrained in Japanese culture. “We know what it feels like when the world judges you by one horrific image,” she said via Zoom. “Malta gave us kindness after the tsunami; now we return it.”

Local businesses are capitalising on the goodwill. Japanese-Maltese fusion café ‘Kimono & Kinnie’ in Sliema launched a limited-edition ‘Neko-Latte’ this week, donating €1 per sale to the campaign. By Wednesday afternoon, the queue stretched around the corner, barista Miguel Camilleri reported. “Customers are ordering two at a time—one to drink, one to post on Instagram,” he laughed, frothing milk into cat-shaped latte art.

Yet beneath the feel-good froth lies a serious policy debate. Malta’s stray population is estimated at 100,000, and government funding for sterilisation has flat-lined since COVID. Parliamentary Secretary for Animal Rights Alicia Bugeja Said told *Hot Malta* that the Japanese donation “sets a precedent for international public-private partnerships” and confirmed her ministry is drafting a memorandum of understanding with ARK to share best-practice protocols on feral management. “If citizens abroad believe in our animals, we must too,” she said.

Back at Island Sanctuary, Janice Galea is already planning a cherry-tree planting ceremony to commemorate the unlikely alliance. “Malta and Japan—two dots on opposite ends of the map—united by cats,” she smiled, scratching the chin of a three-legged tabby named Tokyo. “The killer wanted to erase one life; instead he triggered thousands of acts of kindness. That’s the real Maltese, and Japanese, spirit.”

As court proceedings continue and the defendant faces a maximum €50,000 fine plus deportation, the message from both islands is identical: cruelty may be individual, but compassion is collective.