LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln resident who used a hatchet to kill a cat has been given probation for animal cruelty and must write an essay.

The 18-year-old man was sentenced Tuesday. The 250-word essay must cover the hunting and trapping laws of Nebraska and South Dakota, where his father lives.

In November police received a report about a pool of blood in a driveway. Officers twice talked to the man, who lived nearby and was 17 at the time. During the second interview he said the blood belonged to a cat that got caught in a squirrel trap. He couldn’t free the cat’s leg, so he struck the animal with a hatchet and disposed of it.

The Associated Press generally doesn’t name juveniles accused of crimes.