A Tokyo veterinary clinic has been ordered to pay ¥430,000 in damages after a court found it engaged in malpractice by breaking a pet rabbit's jaw. The rabbit later died.
The pet rabbit's owner, a Tokyo woman, had sued the Shinagawa Ward clinic for ¥1.34 million.
According to the court, the woman asked the clinic in December 2011 to cut one of her 5-year-old male rabbit's teeth that had grown too long.
The vet opened the rabbit's mouth with a device, without putting him under anesthetic. The rabbit lost its appetite after the treatment and died in March 2012.
Tokyo District Court presiding Judge, Asami Tejima, said Thursday that a vet was responsible for the bone fracture, but found no connection between the fracture and the rabbit's death.
The clinic was also ordered to pay ¥80,000 in damages to the woman for pain and suffering.
"I thought of letting the matter drop, but I kept fighting for the rabbit, who was like a part of my family," the woman said in a statement. "I hope such accidents will never occur again."