Image created by OpenAI鈥檚 DALL路E
TOKYO鈥揂 Tokyo taxi driver was arrested for deliberately driving into a flock of pigeons and killing one, police said Tuesday, reportedly because he was angry that the birds were on the road.
Atsushi Ozawa, 50, 鈥渦sed his car to kill a common pigeon, which is not a game animal鈥�, in the Japanese capital last month, and was arrested on Sunday for violating wildlife protection laws, a Tokyo police spokesman told Agence France-Presse.
Ozawa sped off from a traffic light when it turned green, ploughing his taxi into the bevy of birds at a speed of 60 kilometers (37 miles) per hour, local media said.
The sound of the engine reportedly prompted a surprised passer-by to report the incident.
Tokyo police had a veterinarian perform a post-mortem on the hapless pigeon and determined its cause of death as traumatic shock, according to local media.
鈥淩oads belong to humans, so pigeons should have dodged out of the way,鈥� Ozawa was quoted by local media as telling investigators.
Police called his behavior 鈥渉ighly malicious鈥� for a professional driver, before deciding to go ahead with the arrest, broadcaster Fuji TV said.
鈥淲ow, can you get arrested for running over a pigeon?鈥�, one user wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
鈥淗e could鈥檝e just honked his car horn or something. But intentionally killing it? That鈥檚 crossing the line,鈥� another posted.
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