OTTAWA (AFP) — A case involving teenagers who allegedly killed a pet cat by microwaving it during a home burglary last month has provoked outrage among Internet users, leading authorities to block some web sites, police said Monday.
Police shut down local web sites over the weekend that breached a Canadian law banning the identification of young people charged with a crime, or that promoted vigilante justice, Inspector Lee Foreman told AFP.
"I think people like that should be shot," said one message posted on the social networking website Facebook. "I would say these monsters should be tortured."
Another message board named the boys and said they should be shot or "get their faces smashed in."
Others demanded tougher laws to curtail animal abuse.
Four boys, aged 13 to 15, from Camrose, Alberta, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) southeast of Edmonton, have been charged in the cat's death and are scheduled to appear in court in February.
According to a neighbor quoted by the Edmonton Journal, the suspects vandalized the home, stole several items and scrawled in felt pen on kitchen cabinets: "Nice cat, look in the microwave."
The cat's owners were away on vacation at the time. A friend who was looking after the house in their absence found the feline's remains, police said.
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