Kurt Zouma Justice Or Racism?

The movement against animal cruelty has been growing in past decades and the definition of animal cruelty has been changing with it.

Animal cruelty activists in France are outraged at Kurt Zouma following videos posted on social media by his young brother. One of the videos show Kurt kicking and slapping his cat at his 2 million pound mansion. He later throws a pair of designer shoes at the cat in another video.

Zouma spoke on the video and tried to give context by explaining that the cat had broken a vase and made a mess of his home. He went on to express that the cat is a loved member of the family and that this was an isolated incident that happened to be caught on camera with no malicious intent.

The videos led to lawyers for the 30 Million Friends Foundation ( La Fondation 30 Millions d’Amis ), the largest animal rights group in France, contacting prosecutors. The footballer faces up to four years in prison, if found guilty under tough new animal protection laws in his native France, for kicking and slapping his cat.

A spokesman for the Foundation said: ‘We condemn this heinous act, and have asked that the player be suspended from the France team, and filed a legal complaint against him.’ Tough new animal protection laws were introduced in France in 2021, meaning that the ‘mistreatment of animals’ is now punishable by up to four years in prison and a fine equivalent to £50,000. Yet the football club has already fined Kurt £250,000.

Zouma’s cats (he had two), have now been seized by the RSCPA after thousands of people lodged complaints. When a celebrity does something the society deems unacceptable it always seems that people root for the worst penalty ever. Sometimes the extreme efforts are misdirected and depend on who commits the crime. For instance, if this crime had been committed by a white football player it probably wouldn’t have been blown out of proportion.

Children are posted every time on the internet playing with animals in what may be perceived at a “rough” manner. They pull their tails, throw them in the air (particularly cats) to see if they will land on their feet, they throw animals in water and do all sorts of things. Most time people laugh and call it cute. But because it’s Kurt Zouma and he’s a black football star, the rules have been switched up.

There hasn’t been enough time to gather any more information like talking to other people that know him to find out if it’s a common occurrence. Or even medically examining the animal to see if it bears any signs of abuse (which is what they do when they try to prolong cases of abuse victims). He has been quickly ostracized under the guise of animal cruelty. These measures feel more like cancelling a black football player from the game than cautioning him and teaching him to be kinder to animals.

There have been many instances where key figures in football have been racist but those issues are not met with as much vigor. Kurt Zouma has been on the receiving end of racism and yet authorities are quick to act because he “kicked a cat”. What is of more importance racism or kicking a cat? There are sports like horse racing where horses are smacked on the back with a whip by jockeys to run faster? Are the jockeys exhibiting animal cruelty?

Sometimes it is important to look at such issues in context. If he may be attached the animal with a weapon and with an intention to harm or kill (like people who eat cats do) then we could call it cruelty. In this case the owner of the cat expressed that his efforts were to reprimand and not harm.

Below is a link to the video of Kurt Zouma