Police said Monday they have filed charges with prosecutors against a 36-year-old senior high school teacher for burying kittens alive at his school in Chiba Prefecture last month in violation of the animal protection law.
The man admitted burying five newborn kittens, four of which were alive at the time, in a hole on March 6, after having three male students help him dig the hole at the school in the city of Funabashi, police said.
The teacher had found the kittens, believed to have been born to a stray cat, at the school.
Investigators later dug up the five dead kittens.
The teacher is now undergoing training at a prefectural facility, according to the police.