{"id":16819,"date":"2022-02-23T19:53:18","date_gmt":"2022-02-23T19:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition"},"modified":"2022-02-23T20:12:52","modified_gmt":"2022-02-23T20:12:52","slug":"kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition","title":{"rendered":"Kurt Zouma faces growing backlash over cat abuse video as 130k sign petition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>More than 130 000 people (can counting) have signed an online petition calling for West Ham defender Kurt Zouma to be prosecuted as part of a growing backlash over his abuse of his pet cat.<\/p>\n

The France international has been widely condemned after a video emerged of him dropping, kicking and slapping the animal. Police have confirmed they are liaising with animal welfare charity the RSPCA as part of \u201curgent enquiries\u201d into the case.<\/p>\n

West Ham said they \u201cunreservedly condemn\u201d the actions of Zouma, who apologised for his actions but was selected by manager David Moyes for Tuesday\u2019s 1-0 win over Watford at the London Stadium.<\/p>\n

A petition on Change.org reads: \u201cIn the UK we have laws against the abuse of animals, laws which should be applicable to everyone rich or poor, famous or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ask that the Metropolitan Police and RSPCA carry out an urgent investigation and prosecute the perpetrators of this heinous act.\u201d<\/p>\n

West Ham sponsor Experience Kissimmee \u2013 the club\u2019s \u201cofficial destination partner\u201d \u2013 has said it \u201cwill be evaluating our relationship and sponsorship with the club\u201d in light of the video.<\/p>\n

Moyes, who insisted he was an \u201canimal lover\u201d, was criticised for playing Zouma on Tuesday but was adamant he had to do what was right for his club. The defender got a taste of the growing public anger as he was relentlessly booed by Watford supporters, with even West Ham fans joining in some of the jeering.<\/p>\n

London Mayor Sadiq Khan told Sky News that Zouma should be prosecuted, saying he should have been dropped from the team. Conservationist Chris Packham branded Moyes\u2019 decision to select Zouma an \u201cabsolute disgrace\u201d, telling the BBC that a crime had been committed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was a disgraceful decision,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if the footballer had released on social media a film of him taking drugs or beating his wife or his girlfriend or his children, there was no way he would have been on the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

The RSPCA condemned the \u201cvery upsetting\u201d video after it surfaced online and will be leading the investigation and cooperating with Essex Police. \u201cWe cannot comment further at this time, but we\u2019re grateful to everyone who has brought this to our attention,\u201d said a statement from the charity.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. More than 130 000 people (can counting) have signed an online petition calling for West Ham defender Kurt Zouma to be prosecuted as part of a growing backlash over his abuse of his pet cat. The France international has been widely condemned after a video emerged of him dropping, kicking and slapping […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":16818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17,16],"tags":[234,235,233],"class_list":["post-16819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zambia","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"\nKurt Zouma faces growing backlash over cat abuse video as 130k sign petition - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"More than 130 000 people (can counting) have signed an online petition calling for West Ham defender Kurt Zouma to be pr ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kurt Zouma faces growing backlash over cat abuse video as 130k sign petition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"More than 130 000 people (can counting) have signed an online petition calling for West Ham defender Kurt Zouma to be pr ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-23T19:53:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-23T20:12:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2022\/02\/img-621695257a6bd.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1096\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Kurt Zouma faces growing backlash over cat abuse video as 130k sign petition\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-23T19:53:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-23T20:12:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition\"},\"wordCount\":403,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2022\/02\/img-621695257a6bd.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Zambia\",\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"sport\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition\",\"name\":\"Kurt Zouma faces growing backlash over cat abuse video as 130k sign petition - Zambia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2022\/02\/img-621695257a6bd.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-23T19:53:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-23T20:12:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"More than 130 000 people (can counting) have signed an online petition calling for West Ham defender Kurt Zouma to be pr ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2022\/02\/img-621695257a6bd.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2022\/02\/img-621695257a6bd.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":1096,\"caption\":\"Kurt Zouma faces growing backlash over cat abuse video as 130k sign petition\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Kurt Zouma faces growing backlash over cat abuse video as 130k sign petition\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/\",\"name\":\"Zambia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kurt Zouma faces growing backlash over cat abuse video as 130k sign petition - Zambia","description":"More than 130 000 people (can counting) have signed an online petition calling for West Ham defender Kurt Zouma to be pr ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kurt Zouma faces growing backlash over cat abuse video as 130k sign petition","og_description":"More than 130 000 people (can counting) have signed an online petition calling for West Ham defender Kurt Zouma to be pr ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition","og_site_name":"Zambia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-02-23T19:53:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-02-23T20:12:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":1096,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2022\/02\/img-621695257a6bd.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Kurt Zouma faces growing backlash over cat abuse video as 130k sign petition","datePublished":"2022-02-23T19:53:18+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-23T20:12:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition"},"wordCount":403,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2022\/02\/img-621695257a6bd.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Zambia","Zambia"],"articleSection":["all news","homepage-english","sport","twitter"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition","name":"Kurt Zouma faces growing backlash over cat abuse video as 130k sign petition - Zambia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2022\/02\/img-621695257a6bd.jpg","datePublished":"2022-02-23T19:53:18+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-23T20:12:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"More than 130 000 people (can counting) have signed an online petition calling for West Ham defender Kurt Zouma to be pr ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2022\/02\/img-621695257a6bd.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2022\/02\/img-621695257a6bd.jpg","width":1600,"height":1096,"caption":"Kurt Zouma faces growing backlash over cat abuse video as 130k sign petition"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/kurt-zouma-faces-growing-backlash-over-cat-abuse-video-as-130k-sign-petition#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Kurt Zouma faces growing backlash over cat abuse video as 130k sign petition"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/","name":"Zambia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}