One man’s poison is another one’s choice of delicacy

James Mukangi who was arrested on June 21, 2018 skinning a cat in an open field belonging to Kenya Railways Corporation in the outskirts of Nakuru town. [Kennedy Gachuhi, Standard]

There is an ancient saying that ‘cats have nine lives’. Well, that is only true until they cross the path of James Mukangi Kimani, who confessed to selling cat meat to samosa vendors in Nakuru. His ‘business’ was exposed when he was found skinning one of the cats he had slaughtered in some field.

Kimani confessed to having slaughtered more than 1,000 cats and selling the meat to vendors and hotels since 2012. Under the Kenyan law, cat meat is ‘not fit for consumption’ and Kimani was sentenced to three years by a Nakuru Court. He was found guilty of slaughtering the cat as meat for human consumption in a manner deceptive, as consumers had no knowledge of the type of meat they were eating.