Kaohsiung Woman Acquitted After Throwing Cat Feces at Neighbor's Door

Central News Agency (CNA) reporter Hung Hsueh-kuang, Kaohsiung, May 22. A woman surnamed Chuang in Kaohsiung, who had a dispute with a neighbor over stray cat feces, was accused of using iron tongs to pick up toilet paper stained with cat feces and throwing it at the neighbor's rolling door. The Kaohsiung District Court ruled that the act did not reach the level of damaging the victim's personality or reputation, and since the victim admitted they did not feel their reputation was harmed, the court acquitted the defendant.

According to the court judgment, Chuang was accused of throwing the feces-stained paper at the neighbor's door on the night of March 23, 2025. Prosecutors charged her with public insult via force under the Criminal Code, arguing it caused the victim distress and public embarrassment.

During the trial, Chuang denied the charges, claiming she was looking for a cat and, due to a knee injury, could not squat to see what was on the paper. However, surveillance footage clearly showed her repeatedly picking up feces and throwing it at the door.

The victim testified that their mother usually handled complaints about stray cats to the local neighborhood chief, and that they and their sister were not involved. They admitted filing the lawsuit only to comply with their mother's request. The victim told the judge that while they did not approve of the act, they believed the defendant "had a reason to look for the cat," it was "not necessarily targeted at me," and they "did not feel she intended to destroy my reputation."

The judge concluded that since the victim was not involved in previous environmental disputes and did not live alone, the act could not be considered a targeted attack on the victim's reputation. While the act was unpleasant and caused environmental distress, it did not reach the threshold of denying the victim's human dignity or exceeding the limits of what an average person should reasonably endure. Thus, it did not meet the requirements for public insult via force. The case can be appealed.