History will tell if a cat can influence the sporting future of a football player. As for public opinion, the sentence has already fallen: West Ham player Kurt Zouma has been pilloried for twenty-four hours, after the publication of a video in which the player who is also a defender of the team of France violently mistreats his cat in the kitchen of his luxury house in London. All under the eyes of his children.
In the two clips broadcast on Snapchat, of which the tabloid the Sun made its front page on Tuesday (images that Release decided not to relay), we can see Zouma, filmed by a relative, chasing his cat, kicking it, before throwing a shoe at it and finally slapping it on the muzzle while the animal is in the arms of a child.
The whole scene unfolds with off-camera laughter and laughing emojis embedded in the footage. According to Sun, the 27-year-old defender was reportedly furious with his cat, who accidentally smashed a vase and ripped out a light fixture. Except that breakage is a bit part of the package when adopting a pet and the player’s anger seems totally disproportionate.
Animal cruelty can be punished by 5 years in prison in the UK. But London police said on Tuesday that they would not open a formal investigation. In France, the law against animal abuse, definitively adopted in November, provides for up to three years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros for the fact, publicly or not, of carrying out serious abuse or committing an act cruelty to a domestic animal.
Calls for his non-selection
On Twitter, under the hashtag #ZoumaOut, some are calling for his layoff by West Ham or asking that Didier Deschamps not call him back to the France team. Given the extent of the controversy, the player hastened to publish an apology. “I want to apologize for my actions. There are no excuses for my behavior, which I sincerely regret. I also want to say how deeply sorry I am to everyone who was upset by the video. I want to assure everyone that our two cats are perfectly fine and in good health,” reacted in a press release the French international (11 caps), who joined West Ham from Chelsea in August 2021. He also assures that what happened in his kitchen is a “isolated incident”.
His club also condemned “without reservation” his player’s behavior in a separate press release: “We have spoken to Kurt and will handle the matter internally, but would like to make it clear that we do not condone animal cruelty in any way.”
Across the Channel, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), the most important animal protection association, qualified the video as “very upsetting”. “It is never acceptable to kick, hit or slap an animal, in punishment or otherwise”added his spokesperson.
Co-rapporteur of the law against animal abuse, I defended the strengthening of penalties (3 years in prison / 45k€ fine) for these acts. Hitting an animal is not a game but a criminal offence! #zouma #ZoumaOut
It’s up to the courts to quickly take up this case https://t.co/DvNCwSfT9j— Dimitri Houbron ????????????????????⚖️ (@dhoubron1759) February 8, 2022
In France, the association For Ethics in the Treatment of Animals (Peta) speaks of a “unacceptable cruelty” and asks for the dismissal of Zouma from the France team. The same goes for the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, which adds that it will file a complaint against the player for animal abuse, based on the recent law. His co-rapporteur, the centrist deputy Dimitri Houbron, also calls for action by French justice.
Trained at AS Saint-Etienne, Kurt Zouma made his professional team debut at the age of 16 before being transferred to Chelsea and then West Ham.