Timur Laut police chief Razlam Ab Hamid said police had opened an investigation paper under Section 29(1) of the Animal Cruelty Act 2015, Bernama reported.

Earlier, a 66-second-long video clip went viral on social media showing several people retrieving a gunny sack from the river and finding the dead cat inside.

Malaysian Animal Association president Arie Dwi Andika said they had received information on several other such incidents in the past.

Arie said yesterday a witness, who is a representative of the association in Penang, lodged a police report after seeing a man throwing a gunny sack stuffed with a cat into the river at 8.30am.

He tried to save the cat but found that it had died.

“We urge the authorities to conduct a detailed investigation, including arresting the suspect involved,” Arie said.