Premier League footballer videoed kicking and slapping a Bengal cat

NEWS AND COMMENT: Kurt Zouma, 27, a UK Premier League is shown kicking and slapping a Bengal cat in a video posted on social media. It appears that the cat is owned by Zouma. He was videoed by his brother Yoan. He is seen chasing the cat around his dining room throwing a pair of shoes at him/her and slapping his face hard in the kitchen. A child is present at that time holding the cat. You can see the face of the child pixelated out.

Update: having listened to the feedback by listeners to Nick Ferrari on LBC and read comments on the internet, it is clear to me that the general public would prefer if Kurt Zouma’s cats were removed from him and rehomed. The reasoning is sound. Zouma claims that it was a one-off incident but he allowed his brother to film the abuse and upload the video to social media, while his brother laughed. Zouma accepted this. He slapped the cat’s face while the cat was being held by a child. This indicates a very poor attitude towards animal welfare and to the welfare of the child and probably children in general. I don’t think that this was a one-off incident and no one can be certain that this kind of behaviour won’t happen again. Rehome the cats, please.

Another update Feb 09 at 16:07, 2022 – hot off the press: The RSPCA have seized the cats and taken them into their care pending the outcome of their investigation. And West Ham have fined Zouma £250,000 (2-weeks pay) and the money donated to animal charities. The other players have discovered his salary – the highest at the club – and are complaining that they want more.

Zouma was loudly booed when on the pitch. Gary Lineker has said the West Ham response was ‘tone deaf’. Adidas have dropped Zouma from their boot sponsorship programme. More updates below… 😃.

Henry Winter, a senior The Times sports journalist has commented on this event (Feb 10th, 2022). He is very much with me and with the vast majority of ordinary people who want to see Zouma punished. At least he should have been suspended for the duration of the last game. For David Moyes to select Zouma to play in the Watford game was a clear indication that West Ham are not taking the matter seriously. Henry wants both of Zouma’s cats to be taken off him permanently and Zouma educated on animal welfare with the help of the RSPCA. He hopes that the public will continue to make their opinion clear to him. He also believes that Zouma should be showing more contrition and West Ham needs to show they are serious about animal welfare. West Ham is a community club and to almost dismiss this animal welfare issue is against the principles of the club. The club has declined to state whether he will be in the squad for the weekend. I think we can expect that he won’t be playing and that the story will rumble on for a while yet. Other sponsors may decide to abandon the club. If that happened, we could see a change in attitude by West Ham management.

There are three photograph accompanying this article. I am afraid that you have to view them by clicking on the links below. This is because advertisers won’t like these photographs. But you will remain on this page and the photographs open in a new page. They are numbered 1 to 3. Number one shows Kurt Zouma forcefully slapping the Bengal cat out of the hands of a child (horrendous contempt for cat and child) and numbers 2 and 3 show the football drop kicking the cat. How will the child be affected by this? This is child cruelty as well, arguably. The local authority child protection services need to be involved too. This is horrendous parenting.

RELATED: Across Kenya and East Africa many people still believe domestic and stray cats are evil

Please click on the links below to see the images. They are poor quality because they are screenshots from a pretty average video of poor quality. But you get the message loud and clear.

• Kurt Zouma forcefully slaps his Bengal cat. Photo 1.
• Kurt Zouma drop-kicks his Bengal cat. Photo 2.
• Kurt Zouma drop-kicks his Bengal cat. Photo 3.
  

Kurt Zouma is a French international player and a West Ham defender. He has apologised publicly. We’re not told why the video was uploaded or who uploaded the video to social media. Perhaps it was his brother who did this. Zuma told The Sun newspaper: “I want to apologise for my actions. There are no excuses for my behaviour, which I sincerely regret. I also want to say how deeply sorry I am to anyone who was upset by the video. I would like to assure everyone that our two cats are perfectly fine and healthy. They are loved and cherished and this behaviour was an isolated incident that will not happen again.”

The RSPCA say that he could face prosecution. They have received at least one complaint about the video, The Sun reported. West Ham United have condemned the incident and said that it “will be dealing with the matter internally.”

The RSPCA spokesperson said:

“It’s never acceptable to kick, hit or slap an animal”.

The event took place in his £2 million mansion. The Sun refers to the cat as a “moggy”. This is incorrect. The Bengal cat is a well-known purebred, pedigree cat.

In addition to drop kicking and slapping the cat he chased the cat around his dining room in front of a child. His brother who is videoed the event laughed.

Apparently, Kurt Zouma was annoyed that the Bengal cat had messed up his house. The cat had apparently accidentally smashed some sort of vase and had torn down a light fixture from a kitchen cupboard. Zouma also threw some shoes at the cat. The cat looked scared according to reports. The footage was uploaded to Snapchat on Sunday afternoon, a day after Kurt Zouma appeared for West Ham in the FA Cup.

The first clip is captioned in French ‘sa commence’. It is accompanied by laughing-face emojis.

RELATED: When a child, Kloé Kardashian was incorrectly told she was allergic to cats by her mom

Exotic pets

Comment: Two immediate observations come to mind. High profile celebrities like to adopt exotic pets and the Bengal cat is a wildcat hybrid and considered to be pretty exotic. Secondly, he professes to love his cats. Therefore, he has more than one cat and probably the other cat (if there are 2) is a Bengal cat as well. And he says that they are perfectly fine and loved. You have to doubt that statement. The fact that his brother videoed the event indicates a very poor culture or attitude towards animal welfare. Therefore, I would tend to believe that his cats live in the wrong place.

Playing for West Ham in initial lineup. Good or bad idea?

Update: West Ham manager, David Moyes, decided to play Zouma this evening against Watford. There is some criticism for that decision. Joe Cole, a well-known former West Ham midfielder said: “I think it will go down very badly with the public by starting him. I think it’s a miscalculation”.

RELATED: 20 facts about the Bengal Cat

David Moyes, the West Ham manager, was interviewed before the match by BT Sport about whether the cat kicking incident had affected his selection and he said: “No, because he is one of our better players. But it is certainly ongoing and the club are dealing with it, so that is a separate matter.”

Perhaps he should not have selected him? It looks bad for the club. It is bad publicity. When Zouma stumbled during the match the Watford fans chanted: “That’s how your cat feels.”

David Moyes said after West Ham beat Watford 1-0: “My job is to pick the best team which gives me the best chance and Kurt was part of that. I’m a big animal lover and it [the footage] will have affected a lot of people. I am someone who cares a lot about my dogs and horses.”

It seems that the West Ham management did not step up to the problem. They’ve put money before morality essentially. The Times newspaper has a headline “‘Animal lover’ Moyes ignores outcry and picks shamed Zouma”. They say that David Moyes will be seen as the ultimate pragmatist should West Ham qualify for European competition. The reason why he chose this disgraced French football is because he is desperate for his team to qualify for the European Championships and therefore he has to be in the top four of the Premier league. West Ham moved into the top four courtesy of a fluke or goal after “a largely insipid performance” according to The Times.

Watford fans, at the match, “roundly booed Zouma whenever he touched the ball and plenty of home supporters responded by applauding him for doing the basics”. The Watford fans came up with a chant in support of the RSPCA. The newspaper described it as “a tiresome pantomime act”.

Police are investigating?

Further update: It pleases me know end to see that the crowd at the West Ham versus Watford match booed Kurt Zouma. The police are investigating we are told but is this correct? This is unusual because normally the RSPCA investigate these matters. It’s unusual for the police to get involved with animal cruelty like this. This must have happened because it’s a high-profile case and the police need to save face because they have screwed up so many times in the past recently.

The wildlife presenter Chris Packham chipped in by saying: “Tonight some humans decided that it was more important to allow a man who kicks defenceless fragile animals the opportunity to kick a ball for entertainment. Worse they granted him an acquittal from the responsibility that should surely accompany a sportsman.”

Surrey police have reported that “enquiries are underway” having received an “allegation in relation to an animal being abused”. They are working with the RSPCA in a joint investigation. In a statement, released to Standard Sport, Surrey Police said:

“Enquiries are underway after we received an allegation earlier today (February 8), in relation to an animal being abused at an address in north Surrey. The allegations were received after a video emerged over the weekend showing a cat being ill-treated. We are currently liaising with the RSPCA with a view to carrying out a joint investigation into the matter. Enquiries remain ongoing and we will provide further updates in due course.”

France – separate prosecution?

The news about Kurt Zouma keeps on coming. The news media is full of new stories. We now have the bizarre situation (and I am pleased about this development) of the French prosecutors in France prosecuting Zouma. A complaint has been filed against the France international in Paris which has prompted prosecutors working for a large animal rights group, La Fondation 30 Millions d’Amis to push for prosecution. A spokesperson for the foundation said that they condemned “this heinous act, [and] have asked that the player be suspended from the France team, and filed a legal complaint against him”.

Article 113-6 of the French penal code allows Kurt Zouma to be prosecuted in France for its actions in England. If the prosecution proceeds and if he is found guilty, it is reported that he could be handed down a sentence of four years in prison! That would seem to be highly unlikely but it is potentially possible.

And in a further development, there is now 100,000 signatures on an online petition calling for legal action to be taken against. I guess that means a criminal prosecution to be commenced against him.

If prosecuted in the UK

The evidence is very strong. If he is prosecuted and convicted of animal cruelty under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, the worst punishment that he can receive is 5 years imprisonment. That won’t happen. He would probably be fined and it would be hefty as he is paid £125,000 per week!

West Ham Supporters Trust – WHUST

WHUST want Zouma to be punished like any other person and spend community service with the RSPCA and donate £125,000 to the RSPCA (a week’s salary). He should learn from a spell with the RSPCA. Not a bad idea as he needs to be educated. He was clearly ignorant about animal welfare at the time that he abused his cat. He has learnt very quickly. He might lose his place on the team if the club’s sponsors abandon the club. Adidas have started with pulling his boot sponsorship.

Yoan – the brother who laughed while videoing the abuse

Yoan has been suspended: “The Club has therefore decided that until the RSPCA has completed its investigations, Yoan will not play for Dagenham & Redbridge in any competitive match. Any further action deemed necessary to be taken will be made at the conclusion of the RSPCA investigation.”

Video

Note: If you want to see the video, please click on this link: SEE VIDEO, which takes you to The Sun newspaper. I can’t show it here because it would have to be off-site which is a fiddle. Notably The Sun does not care about upsetting Google Adsense because they are big boys and they know that Google won’t do a thing about it.