West Ham defender Kurt Zouma could be in trouble after a video of him violently attacking a cat emerged online.
The video was posted on the social media platform Snapchat by his brother, who captioned it with laughing emojis.
In the clip making rounds on social media, Zouma is seen kicking his cat off his hand and across the kitchen floor.
He then followed through, chasing it across the house as it tried to escape danger, before Zouma picked up a shoe and threw it at the helpless animal.
As if not enough, Zouma at some point in the video slapped the cat in the face as it fell to the ground off the table.
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It is still not clear what the cat had done to warrant the violent treatment meted against it by the West Ham player.
Zouma has since bowed to pressure and upon sensing trouble, issued an apology on the video.
"I 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,” Zouma said.
"They are loved and cherished by our entire family, and this behaviour was an isolated incident that will not happen again," he added.
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In a statement, West Ham condemned the incident, noting that they have zero tolerance to violence towards animals.
"We have spoken to Kurt and will be dealing with the matter internally, but we would like to make it clear that we in no way condone cruelty towards animals," said West Ham in a statement.
Zouma was signed up by West Ham from Chelsea in August 2021, in a deal worth Sh4.5 Billion. He has since played 12 matches, scoring one goal.
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