Man who dumped cat suffers from bipolar disorder: report
It seems the man caught on video dumping a cat into a bin in Singapore suffers from bipolar disorder.
If true, that puts into perspective the incident, which has sparked outrage and calls to arrest the alleged animal abuser.
Madam Hamidah recounted to The New Paper (TNP) that her husband, Michael, told her he would take “Scuzzi”, one of the family’s four cats, to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).
But based on the video, the man threw Scuzzi into a rubbish bin outside a veterinary clinic off Whitley Road. He then told his wife that he had “put Scuzzi in a collection bin for animals for adoption”, according to the paper.
The 52-year-old woman, who is in the watch trading business, explained that her husband had a relapse of his bipolar disorder last week, and that he had become unpredictable.
“He’s always thinking that someone’s out to kill him… And worse, he would just shout loudly in public when he feels threatened,” she was quoted by TNP as saying.
Hamidah intends to check Michael into the Institute of Mental Health due to his worsening condition.
The couple are known to be feline lovers and they had only decided to give Scuzzi up because he would get into serious fights with his brother and defecate outside their neighbour’s homes, it was reported.
A neighbour TNP spoke to said that “Michael is a very nice man who’s very loving towards his granddaughter. I’ve known them to be cat lovers from the day I moved in”.
The same paper spoke to a consultant psychiatrist, Dr Ang Yong Guan, who confirmed that Michael displayed behavioural symptoms of patients suffering from bipolar disorder, which included impulsive behavior and an inability to make clear judgement.
So who knows, perhaps the man did believe he was dropping the cat into a collection bin for animals to be adopted.
Someone convicted of animal cruelty for abandoning a pet could be fined as much as $10,000 or jailed for up to one year, or both.
In light of these new details, people may not want to judge too harshly.
Watch the video of the incident:
