I mean, it's a dick move, but doesn't qualify as abuse imo. No harm would come from it by itself, and if the cat didn't object at all, it's not worth arguing about.
But my grandparents had to shave their cat's tail for a few years. He would suck on it, and in the process pull out hairs, which would end up with sores where they had been pulled. So the vet said to keep it shaved down, if the cat would tolerate it. The cat did, and no more issues.
I mean if you only fid it once and the cat was not hurt by it I personally would not call that abuse. Sure you did it for no reason but the cat did not really suffer for it.
Looks like it's in an animal care facility of some kind. My guess is that it had some crud in its fur that they couldn't wash out easily, or maybe a pest infestation like lice.
Crud in its fur wouldn't require a freaking straight-edge razor shave with hot towels and hand fluffed shave cream like this. And if it was pests they wouldn't shave, and if they did, they would have shaved the tail and face as much as possible as well.
I'm sure this was for a valid reason, I just don't think it was one of those reasons.