Video of Brazilian football team official grabbing a stray cat aggressively at a conference

An unnecessarily aggressive example of human behaviour in manhandling an innocent stray cat who trespassed on Brazil's news conference in Qatar. Shame on the man. You did not have to behave this aggressively towards the cat. There is anger in your behaviour. This is a cross post from PoC as it is interesting in that is hints at the general abuse that can be directed at stray cats in Brazil.

Here is a screenshot and some words:

The problem is this: the man hurt the cat by grabbing the cat's skin along the spine. Also, to grab the scuff of the neck aggressively like this is not good when the cat is an adult. There is too much weight placed on the loose skin. He dumps the cat unceremoniously over the table.

The aggressive behaviour of the media official indicates a poor relationship with cats. This was a press conference at Qatar before the Brazil versus Croatia quarter final which Brazil have just lost on penalties.

Neymar scored the only goal in the first half of extra time - a great goal - and Croatia got the equalizer late in the second half of extra time. Croatia won on penalties 4-2.

Tragedy for Brazil as they were favourites. Some might say it is karma for the mild abuse meted out to this stray tabby cat who innocently wandered into the news conference.

The journalists present were aghast at the rough and aggressive behaviour of the official. PETA complained justifiably.

Man in Wales goes out of his way to kick an old cat

Caught on CCTV, we see a man in Wales, who seems to be fairly elderly, kicking an elderly cat against a wall. The man went out of his way to do it. The cat's owner is bemused at this alleged wanton act of cat cruelty.

She branded the man 'disgusting'. Her cat is 17 years of age. Fortunately, the video shows us that the kick was not particularly violent although the cat was projected against a garden wall.

Man in Wales goes out of his way to kick an old cat. Image: see photo.

The video footage was recorded in Newport, Wales. It shows two older men walking down the road before the skinnier one spots the cat sitting on the pavement (sidewalk) outside a house and not far from a brick wall.

After he spots the cat, he clearly decides to alter his route to kick her. The cat's owner, Valerie Young, of Albert Terrace in Newport spotted the alleged crime because she appears to have her security camera attached wirelessly to her tablet computer.

NOTE: THIS IS NOT DIFFICULT TO LOOK AT. IT IS CRUEL AND BAD HUMAN BEHAVIOR BUT RELATIVELY MILD COMPARED TO WHAT WE ARE USED TO SEEING AND READING ABOUT.

She said: "The cat is old now. She's 17 so she doesn't go far. She only goes in the dingle [a shady dell] next door, and she was laying in the sun. I saw the two men on the camera, but I didn't take much notice. Then I saw what he had done. He kicked the cat against the wall, literally kicked it against the wall."

Valerie says that she is now carrying her cat around because her left paw was hurt in the incident. She will be taking her to a veterinarian to assess the injury.

Apparently, she confronted the men and shouted that she knew what the perpetrator had done.

She said: "'It's just dreadful, I don't understand it. I've just been crying all day. I can't see how people could be so cruel to a little cat. I think it's absolutely disgusting. She was just lying in the sun, that's all she was doing."

It appears that she reported the incident to the police. It is not the first time that her cat has been deliberately injured. Years ago, somebody damaged her cat's eye (it was lost as a result) and cut all her whiskers and all her claws. 

Gwent Police have passed on the information to the RSPCA to investigate what is an alleged act of animal cruelty.

The police confirmed that they had "received a report from the Newport area at around 4:30 PM, Wednesday 19 October, that a cat was kicked. Anyone with information, including CCTV or dash cam footage, can call us direct quoting log reference 2200354630."

CCTV captured cruel cat owner beating his cat

The MailOnline and other news media outlets are reporting on the cruel behaviour of Artur Zakowicz, 46, roughly picking up his cat, Bashik (tuxedo cat), by the loose skin on his back (not the scruff) and hitting him six times with his hand and flattening him to the ground. It is all on CCTV video and the quality is good.

I can't show the video here because the advertisers will object. And in any case, it will be unpleasant. Sorry, if that is disappointing but why watch an unpleasant video of cat cruelty? I will publish a distant video screenshot which should be okay. See below. 

If you want to see the video and some more stills, please visit the MailOnline page by clicking on this link (opens new page).

Artur Zakowicz beats his cat Bashik in the street with CCTV watching. Credit: see image.

Ironically the CCTV cameras appears to be on a police station building (Blacon Police Station).

Bashik clearly struggled to escape as you would expect and managed to do so after 34 seconds precisely of being beaten.

There is no doubt that the experience must have been frightening and painful for his cat. He was tracked down by the RSPCA from the video footage.

RPSCA inspector Naomi Morris accompanied a police officer to Zakowicz's flat where he admitted the attack.

Bashik. Credit as per photo.

I think it is fair and useful to state that Zakowicz is a Polish name. Just for the record. Poles have a higher proportion of prisoners relative to their population in the UK than all other nationalities (868 in prison) bar Albanians who are miles out in front (1.5 million). I am being factual, please note.

By the time a veterinarian examined the cat it was 23 days after the assault and the cat had recovered.

However, the vet said that: "Persisting signs of bruising and soft tissue swelling would not be expected when considering the examination was carried out 23 days after the CCTV incident."

There were no skeletal injuries. Zakowicz was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to a cat under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

Bashik was seized and taken from him and will be rehomed by the RSPCA. On the 14th of October he was banned from keeping animals for five years. And sentenced to 15 days of rehabilitation activity (that won't do much good!), 200 hours of unpaid word, and pay a victim surcharge of £114 and costs of £500.

'Copycats' a cat picture I don't like

The picture is called 'copycats'. And the person who uploaded it to Twitter has the handle: 'cats being weird little guys'. Being a grumpy old man, I don't see cats being weird but humans being weird. They get a kick out of placing a real tuxedo cat (black-and-white) in bed with a bunch of plush toy look-a-likes. Then they take a photo and upload it to social media. I mean, I don't get it. 

'Copycats' a cat picture I don't like. Image: Twitter.

I suppose it is all about human entertainment, but it is at the expense of cats. But then no one gives a damn except grumpy old fools like me who complains. Why don't we celebrate the cat or simply stop using the cat to make funny cat pics for social media? Let's just end the funny cat pic and video era. It has gone on long enough. Way too long actually.

I don't think it helps with cat welfare as it uses cats as objects of entertainment. Someone out there will take a different message from the images and believe that cats can be abused in a more harmful way. There are a lot of people who get kicks out of hurting cats.

It is funny because at the other end of the spectrum of cat pictures we have cat rescue organisations trying to drum up donations by showing injured, rescued cats. They publish these uncomfortable photos on Twitter, and it is simply wrong. It is using cat cruelty to try and get people to donate money. It is another version of cat abuse.

Showing photos of injured cats, I have decided, is abusive. It devalues cats. And it inures people to cat abuse. People need to be sensitive to cat abuse and to roundly object to it and reject it. If you bombard social media users with pics of rescue cats in very poor health and injured, people become accustomed to these images and see nothing particularly wrong. It is becomes normalised.

I have asked cat rescues to stop showing injured rescued cats as it is clearly wrong. Let's see the cat treated in a kindly non-abuse way. The cat should never be used (abused) to try and achieve a human goal. But is happens all the time in many different ways.

Kilkenny cat

 

This is I believe a representation of the Kilkenny hurling team, who are called the Kilkenny cats in recognition of the fighting spirit of the original and real cats (see story below). Photo copyright the man with the golden cam. 

The orange and black striped shirt is meant to represent a ginger tom cat. The Times archive is a fascinating source of information. The author of an article in the 31st, 1864 edition purports to know the origin of the Kilkenny cat. 

The term 'Kilkenny cat' refers to a person who fights with tenacity. Several origins of this term have evolved. The Times journalist of 1864 thought he had the right answer as to the origin and he probably did. This is it. A rebellion occurred in Ireland (didn't they always) in 1798 or 1803. 

As a result, Kilkenny was garrisoned (troops were assigned to a military post) to, I expect, keep the peace. The soldiers in the garrison where Hessian (soldiers from the then principality of Hesse Kassel, now in Germany - they were then German soldiers). 

They had the appalling and utterly cruel custom or habit (to pass the time of day, I expect) of tying two cats together by their tails and then hanging the cats over a clothes line so that the cats were forced to face each other. Under these cruel and uncomfortable circumstances, they fought each other until one succumbed. 

William Hogarth drawing of Kilkenny cats fighting. 

This custom became known to the officers who wanted to stop it. On an inspection of the barracks to catch this act happening, a soldier cut down the cats with a sword, cutting through each cats tail. The cats fled leaving their tails hanging on the line. 

The explanation given to the officer was that two cats had fought and consumed each other. As they must have fought with incredible conviction to have eaten each other a saying evolved, "to fight like a Kilkenny cat", to mean fighting with conviction and tenacity. 

Which is why the Kilkenny hurling and Gaelic football teams like to call themselves the cats.

Kilkenny cat to cat show 1871

Welsh police mistook a tabby kitten for a Scottish wildcat and allegedly abused the animal

This is another example of the stupidity of UK police. Over and over again they screw up. They are as thick as bricks. In this instance it occurred in Wales. The police seized what is clearly a cute tabby kitten, Finlay, from an address in Conway, North Wales believing that he was an endangered Scottish wildcat! There are no Scottish wildcats in Wales. Pretty well everyone knows that. They seized the cat because they thought that Finlay was being kept without a licence.

Finlay - a tabby kitten seized by the idiotic police as an endangered Scottish wildcat! Pic in public domain.

They had the cat examined and decided that he was a standard tabby cat. But in the meantime, they had kept him in their custody in an inappropriate enclosure for over four months. Yes, it took them four months to figure out that they had a tabby kitten rather than a Scottish wildcat!! Idiots.

And the enclosure was unsuitable with mulch on the floor. Finlay is now in a rescue centre called Wildcat Haven. They say that when he was released by Welsh police, he was in a bad way having suffered psychological trauma. They say that he was "seized and detained, in our opinion, without due cause or reason by the North Wales police.

He was kept at an undisclosed location for 4.5 month and when he was seized by the police he was in prime physical condition and they had hoped that he would be cared for properly and returned in the same condition.

But sadly not. They say that "it is clear that Finlay has experienced serious physiological and psychological trauma at the hands of his captors". They mean the police. They further said that "We were assured by the police that Finlay was receiving specialist care. Such mental and physical deterioration in four-and-a-half months, does not suggest specialist care. It suggests abuse."

And that “The police also told us numerous times that Finlay was being kept in a naturalistic enclosure. However, notes provided to us by the police show that he was kept in an enclosure with a mulch floor. He didn’t even have grass under his feet."

North Wales police denied the abuse claims and said that he had been monitored for his well-being throughout. They say that while at the facility he was regularly examined by veterinary surgeons and that his weight remained stable. They say that investigators assessed Finlay's features and "found it may have a low proportion of wildcat genes" but not enough to consider it a Scottish wildcat. Ridiculous.

All domestic cats have some wildcat genes in them because they come from wildcats. Wildcats are their ancestors. There is no doubt in my mind that Finlay is a standard tabby kitten. A domestic cat. The North Wales police are acting idiotically and now trying to fudge the result by saying that Finlay had some wildcat in him.

As I said in the opening paragraph, this is another example of the UK police behaving badly and stupidly. If they only did their job and caught some criminals life would be a lot better in the UK. But they manage to catch just 5% of the criminals who've conducted criminal acts in this country. The criminals know that they will not be caught and the citizens of the UK are unsupported by the police. They are on their own.

Far too often UK police waste time on red herrings and escapades which are noncriminal when they should be focusing on crimes like burglary which they have completely abandoned and thefts.

British police officer wanted to Taser a cat and dog

A group of three British Metropolitan Police officers, PC Jonathan Cobban, 35, PC William Neville, 34, and Joel Borders, 45, who has left the force, were recently in Westminster magistrates' court accused of sending "grossly racist, sexist, misogynistic" messages sometimes when on duty. 

The court was told that they indulged in rape fantasies of colleagues and vulnerable girls. PC Cobban, responded to Borders claim that he wanted to get "on guns so I can shoot some c***in the face!" by saying: "Me to. I want to Taser a cat and a dog to see which reacts better. Same with children. Zap zap you little f***ers."

Met police. Image: Pixabay.

People with Down's Syndrome were described as potential "target practice". There were separate homophobic slurs. They had these conversations on WhatsApp and part of that group was PC Wayne Couzens who is notorious for his abduction, rape and murder of Everard, 33, in March 2020 which led to his conviction and a whole-life sentence. He committed that crime while a serving police officer. It was the grossest breach of trust imaginable and his sentence is appropriate.

The three deny sending grossly offensive messages between April and August 2019. They say it was dark humour and in bad taste. Their defense lawyer said the comments did not reach the legal standard of "grossly offensive".

However, what caught my eye in this story, reported in The Times today, Friday, July 29, 2022, is that one of this trio of Metropolitan police officers was very keen to Taser a cat to see what happened. That is the kind of person that occasionally ends up being a police officer in the UK.

I must say, that my personal experience in dealing with the Metropolitan police is very poor. I have zero trust of them and I find them either very unhelpful or their behaviour is objectionable. Only about 5% of crime is detected in the UK with, as I understand it, an even smaller percent of those arrested being convicted and punished. The statistics are appallingly poor indicating a Metropolitan police force which is simply not functioning and certainly not protecting the public. 

About 1.6% of rapists are convicted! Almost zero. And clearly in this instance the police officers had no concept of animal welfare or acting morally. It is shocking. A sizeable percentage of the British public have given up on the police are feel alone and unprotected.

Man punishes his cat for stealing fish by lacing cat food with alcohol

This is obviously completely wrong. The man is ignorant, foolish and his behaviour is immoral. I'm surprised the young cat ate fish laced with alcohol but no doubt the cat was hungry and apparently didn't mind the fact that it was dripping with alcohol. The man didn't know how the alcohol would affect the cat other than that it would put them to sleep.  He is effectively poisoning his cat and he thinks that he is being clever and making a hit video! The man is mad. According to his video the cat slept for two days. We do not know what has happened after that. 

Man soaks his cat's food with alcohol to punish them. Screenshot

A cat's metabolism is different to that of humans. Sometimes small quantities of a drug of any kind can have severe effects on a domestic cat. Apparently one teaspoonful of alcohol can seriously harm a domestic cat. So, this man was also reckless as to the outcome. And you should never punish your cat. His cat stole his fish and he thinks they deserve to be punished. This was not bad cat behaviour but bad human behaviour in so many ways. He knows that his cat likes fish and he allowed access to the fish. This was his problem not a cat problem. But he doesn't recognise it. Because, as mentioned, he's ignorant.

RELATED: PUNISHING CATS IS WRONG.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Atinkanews.net (@atinkanews)

Note: This is an embedded video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source or the video is turned into a link which stops it working here. I have no control over this. I expect the video to disappear as he is rightly receiving lots of criticism.

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Of course, the video, on Instagram, has received comments of objection to his behaviour. It just shows how ignorant a lot of people are when it comes to cat caregiving. There are millions of examples similar to this one which happen across the planet on a daily basis. Sometimes I think that humankind should not have domestic cat companions at all. There's just too much failure. Although we have to recognise that there are hundreds of millions of people who provide great cat caregiving. I just see too much failure however.

To compound the error of his ways he decides to video his cat abuse, cat cruelty, and upload the video to Instagram, which is the source of the video you see on this page. He is one of those people who thinks it clever to make videos of cat cruelty. I don't know where it has occurred. I think it is Ghana. He even adds nice music to the video as if he is entertaining viewers. We bloody hate the video and your crass behavior.

If it had happened in America, he might have been prosecuted for animal cruelty under the relevant state laws. But it's probably happened in a country where they either don't have effective animal welfare laws or they are unenforced. Another reason to be exasperated by humankind's failure in the domestic cat-to-human relationship.

Quick research indicates that alcohol is positively not a drug that a cat should be allowed to drink. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is adamant that this should not be allowed. It can cause ethanol poisoning. Symptoms can be vomiting, lethargy, ataxia, depression, diarrhoea, trouble breathing, seizures and in the worst cases, and death. In this cat is a small, young cat. As I stated and I will state it again, this man is an idiot.

Cowardly cat haters abuse outdoor domestic cats secretively

Almost daily we read about some form of domestic cat abuse carried out secretively by cat haters. The typical method to abuse a domestic cat is to feed them poison such as antifreeze. You can do that secretively very easily. Poison is probably a favourite of cat haters. Another is to simply kill them and mutilate cats. Once again this is done at night, out of sight, when their owners are asleep. Domestic cats are predisposed to abuse at night because indoor/outdoor cats are active at that time.

RELATED: One family lost six cats to antifreeze poisoning.

Spray painted cat Australia.

And sometimes we see domestic cat spray-painted. This is currently happening in Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia (see picture above). Cat owners are disgusted by it and they are up in arms. A secretive, cowardly cat hater is spray-painting domestic cats. Animal advocates are saying that not enough is being done by the local government to get to the bottom of it and enforce animal welfare laws. Some cat owners think that the enforcement of animal cruelty laws are underfunded in New South Wales, Australia. Aerosol paints are toxic to cats figures are going to lick it off.

I've seen domestic cats with elastic bands around their heads in another form of cat abuse.  Or tied tightly around legs to stop the blood flow. A further method of outdoor domestic cat abuses to shoot BB gun pellets at them from windows. In the UK they would be airguns. Sometimes people shoot .22 calibre rifle bullets at cats. This is what happens in America. Once again it is done secretively. It is rare that these perpetrators are caught by law enforcement.

RELATED: Can a BB gun kill a cat?

There are innumerable ways to abuse cat secretively. Another one comes to mind. Cat owners driving up to cat rescue facilities with unwanted cats in a cardboard box and dumping the box by the building. They do it at night but sometimes they are caught on security cameras. Or they may simply dump the cats among the garbage. They drive up quickly, leap out of the vehicle and dispose of the animals as fast as possible. They don't want to be caught quite naturally but these are cowardly acts by inadequate people. If they don't hate cat then they don't want because they been careless enough to allow them to breed.

Another way that cowardly cat hating people kill cats or harm them is to drive over them when they are on the road. Rather than avoiding a domestic cat on the road at night, they drive over them. Nobody knows how the cat died other than it was an accident on the road. It's a perfect crime and it disgusts me.

RELATED: Son drives over three cats with proud mum in passenger seat.

It is sad to think that the friendliest domestic cats are the ones most exposed to abuse by cat haters. These are the cats who walk up to people on the street seeking human interaction because they've not got enough of it with their owner. The cat hater entices the cat towards them and then picks them up and abuses them. Or there may steal them. I've seen cat thieves do this. This is a form of cat abuse because the domestic cat is suddenly placed into an alien environment causing anxiety. These are also not infrequently captured on CCTV cameras. We can see who they are. However, they are rarely apprehended by law enforcement.

I read today, by the way, that in the UK only 6% of suspected criminals are charged. One in 16 crime suspects in the UK were taken to court last year. And only a tiny fraction of the people who commit crimes are actually taken to court. The police are almost doing nothing in the UK. You might as well simply disband the entire police force and live life without them.

Cat haters operate secretively and they are bolstered by the fact that they know they will rarely if ever be caught by the police because in the UK they are next to useless.

Trigger warning! Read what SUNNYSIDE VETERINARY CLINIC says about cat declawing

The phrase "trigger warning" is very current. It actually applies to the Declaration of Independence. This is one of America's most famous documents and the National Archives has erected a trigger warning next to this founding 18th-century document of the United States according to the historian Andrew Roberts. He said that a framed explanatory text next to the document at the archives in London, UK now warns readers that the statements within the declaration are "outdated, biased and offensive".

And this is what we can expect from things said and done in the past. They become outdated, outmoded and objectionable. Essentially people become more civilised. Humankind is on a long journey towards being civilised. We are perhaps in the middle of that journey but nowhere near the end of it.

Declawing was invented in the 1950s in the US. It is now outdated and highly objectionable. There should be a trigger warning outside all American vets who perform the operation.

Within about two minutes I found an American veterinarian's website where they proudly declaw. It is the website for Sunnyside Veterinary Clinic in Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA. And they state the following:

"In America, most (but not all) veterinarians agree that when done properly, declawing can be a benefit to both the cat and the people involved.  Without a doubt is is a painful procedure, and absolutely must be done in conjunction with excellent pain control."

So, most vets in America believe that declawing benefits the cat. This is despite the fact that two thirds of declawing operations leave bone fragments in their paws. It is despite the fact that there is an epidemic of botched declawing operations because they are carried out too casually and quickly.

Dr Bruce Fogle, the UK's best-known vet says that declawing is barbaric. Agreed.

It is despite the fact that 99.9% of declawing operations are carried out at the convenience of the cat's owner and not for the cat's benefit. Yes, the reason why cats are declawed is to stop them scratching furniture.

How, on earth, can that be of benefit to the cat? This veterinarian is lying through his teeth. This veterinarian has no right to be a veterinarian. This veterinarian is in complete and abject breach of his oath which he swore when he became a vet. He might as well tear that up and stick it in the nearest bin. It is completely pointless.

In their oath vets swear that they will only do things for the benefit of their patients. This is obviously completely incorrect in the vast majority of veterinary clinics in America if you believe what this veterinarian states namely that most veterinarians agree that declawing can be a benefit to both cat and people.

Yes, it can be benefit to people who are highly sensitive to a domestic cat's needs. It can benefit people who are highly insensitive to the need to improve their cat's life and not cause them unnecessary pain, sometimes lifelong pain because of the declawing operation.

It benefits people who fail to understand how they can avoid being scratched and how they can avoid their furniture being scratched by alternative means. They dive straight in and declaw young kit a kitten instead.

I messaged this veterinarian to tell him what I think about him. Just for the record. And I sent him a link to a page I wrote a little while ago about the high number of botched declawing operations leaving fragments of bone in cats' claws. Perhaps he needs educating. I think it does.

Chris Packham appeals to Gary Lineker on Twitter to get involved in the Zouma cat kicking incident

 Here is the tweet by Chris Packham directed at Gary Lineker.

Hello @GaryLineker Chris here . You may have seen that an @premierleague footballer from @WestHam has been filmed kicking and slapping a cat . As a great ambassador for sports and sportsmen and women can I call upon you to help ensure this is dealt with appropriately . Please RT pic.twitter.com/oM8P4pNKJc

— Chris Packham (@ChrisGPackham) February 8, 2022

Note: This is an embedded tweet. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

It is not clear to me what he specifically wants Gary Lineker to do. My guess is that he wants Lineker to put pressure on West Ham administration to punish Zouma more and perhaps terminate his contract with West Ham if it is feasible as per the terms of Zouma's contract.

We are still waiting for the RSPCA to reach a decision on what to do: prosecute Zouma or not. They are taking far too long over this. The evidence is in the video. It is plain for all to see. I guess they need to interview Zouma and the other people in the video. But the sluggishness of their investigation indicates a lack of commitment to prosecute.

Chris Packham publicly communicating with Gary Linker on Twitter. Screenshot

They are probably scared to make a decision as the case is so high profile. It was viral news for days. The cats are still with the RSPCA as far as I am aware. They should be taken from him permanently and rehomed.

The cat he kicked was a Bengal cat I believe. We don't know what filial. If the cat is a high filial such as and F2 the incident supports the desire of Packham and others to change the licensing laws on keeping high filial wild cat hybrids so that the licensing of these exotic cats is refused by the local authorities. This would stop the ownership of high filial wild cat hybrids in the UK by the backdoor.

Packham sees wild cat hybrids as damaging the conservation of the wild cats as the breeders need servals to create F1 Savannah cats and Asiatic leopard cats to create F1 Bengal cats. It is the importation of these wild cats into the UK which damages their conservation.

CAT ATTACK West Ham defender Kurt Zouma’s cats ‘will remain in care after being checked by vets’

Kurt Zouma's two cats, one of which is a Bengal cat and the other is probably of the same breed, "will remain in care after being checked over by vets," the RSPCA confirmed. You may remember that the West Ham defender, 27, had his cats seized following the uploading of a video by his brother to social media in which he is seen drop-kicking and slapping one of the cats at his £2 million mansion.

Kurt Zouma. Pic in public domain.

The RSPCA has said that the investigation is continuing and while it does, they will retain the cats. However, they said that they are not up for rehoming. They have embarked on a full and thorough investigation they said. 

An RSPCA spokesman said:

"Two cats are in our care, have been seen by a vet and are being well looked after. They will remain in our care while the investigation continues and are not available for rehoming although we have lots of beautiful cats who are looking for new homes. We understand the high level of interest in this incident and can reassure you that our experienced officers are carrying out a full and thorough investigation."

An online petition has gathered 288,000 signatures so far. The petition demands that the RSPCA with the police prosecute him and take his animals to a safe place. I have just learned that the petition now stands at 324,144. The argument is that as Zouma considers cat abuse amusing he has a disdain for animal welfare. The petitioners have speculated as to what has happened in the past and what might happen in the future.

They are hinting at the fact that they believe that there have been other instances of abuse against his cats. For this reason, they believe that it is necessary to remove them from his home and his care permanently.

Also, to not rehome them would be an endorsement, in this high-profile case, that his actions are accepted by society. That would be an unacceptable state of affairs. It would, in fact, encourage further animal abuse by others. This was animal abuse for entertainment by an ignorant but rich footballer.  Note: his brother laughed throughout the abuse.

Although he is very remorseful. I think he has learned a lesson already. But he needs to learn about animal welfare and his responsibilities as a cat caregiver.

Japanese man said: "I got a thrill out of abusing cats"

The mood music coming out of Japan is that, in general, the citizens like cats. I always thought that Japan was very organised. They do have stray cats but they are generally respected. Obviously there are exceptions to that thought, and in any case my thoughts are probably wrong. I've never been to Japan but seen some lovely stray cat photographs! In any case, this is not a good story from Japan if you love cats.

Japan stray cat being photographed with a 6x6 film camera. Photo by Noelas H. under CC license.

A 49-year-old man, Yuichiro Hirata, received a suspended prison sentence of 18 months after he was found guilty of killing and injuring nearly 100 cats over the past three years.

He said:

"I've killed or injured nearly 100 cats since three years ago. I got a thrill out of abusing cats."

He was convicted under the Animal Welfare Law according to Japan Today for injuring cats with an airgun in Yachiyo, Chiba, Japan last November. The court heard that he also used an airgun to shoot at cats and he poured boiling water on cats which he had encouraged to come to him with food.

There were 15 reported incidents of cats being shot at with an airgun from February 2019 until his arrest in Chiba City and neighbouring Narashino City. Yuichiro Hirata is a part-time worker in Chiba City.

Comment: this sounds a bit like anywhere else. In the UK idiotic kids shoot airgun pellets at cats sometimes, for the fun of it. In the USA idiotic adults shoot .22 calibre bullets at stray cat, sometimes. And in those countries, and in other countries, the courts tend to treat them leniently when they been convicted of animal cruelty and abuse.

Of course, it depends upon your point of view as to whether an 18 month prison sentence suspended for three years is lenient or not. To me it is, obviously. It should not have been suspended. All he has to do is keep his nose clean for three years and he is home free. No punishment. He'll then start up again abusing stray cats.

If anyone actually likes to hurt animals they are a danger to society. He should be medically treated too. Why wasn't there an order that he attend a psychiatrist or mental health worker for mental health treatment? His pleasure in harming cats needs to be removed from his mind.

It seems to me that this man is very angry and we wants to strike back at something as he feels aggrieved and hard done by. Rather than harming humans he harms the innocent cat because they are easier to harm and the punishment is light. He has mental health problems.

Camilla Long doesn't know the difference between Pen Farthing and Joe Exotic

Camilla Long is a well-known journalist writing for The Sunday Times. She comments on the news and I guess anything that interests her. Today, she has written something which irritates me. I'm sure she doesn't give a damn. In fact it probably pleases her because her provocative articles are meant to irritate and delight at the same time. She is a consummate writer, very bright, Oxbridge educated and blah blah blah. She is talented. But she's got this completely wrong.

Camilla Long. Photo: Twitter.

She is criticising animal lovers and "animal people" who, I presume, are the same species of human. And she can't tell the difference between the behaviour of the well-known animal rescuer, Pen Farthing, who was until the mass evacuation based in Kabul, Afghanistan and the obnoxious but made-for-television personality, Joe Exotic.

I'll tell her what the difference is. Mr Farthing saves the lives of unwanted and discarded animals. He shipped many dogs from Afghanistan to America. This is because American military personnel rescued dogs in Afghanistan and became close to them. When they came to the end of their deployment and returned to America they had to leave their dogs behind. Mr Farthing rectified that problem. He raised considerable funds to ship these dogs to America for a reunion and to allow the dogs to live out their lives happily. He saved lives and did good work. He also ran a vet surgery in Kabul. He founded and ran the best animal rescue organisation in Afghanistan for years. He alleviated pain and distress in animals.

RELATED: Taliban likely to ban dogs but accept cats

He bent over backwards and struggled enormously to save the lives of about 200 cats and dogs during the mass evacuation when the Taliban took over. Camilla Long criticises him for euthanising 32 older dogs at that time because they weren't enough crates to transport them all, she said. She also criticises him for the death of six cats who were tear-gassed after a suicide bomb went off at the airport.

I'm sure Mr Farthing reluctantly euthanised the dogs that she mentions. Sometimes rescue animals have to be euthanised despite best intentions. Under the most dire and critical conditions, Mr Farthing saved lives. If he euthanised these dogs it would have been an absolutely last resort that he was compelled to take. It would have been a humane decision.

RELATED: 25-30 cats at US Embassy Kabul have been abandoned

By contrast, Joe Exotic, for many years, ran the biggest private zoo in America and exploited big cat cubs for financial gain on a treadmill basis. They were used for photo shoots but when they grew up they were redundant. They were surplus to requirements. There were sometimes shot. Basically he was exploiting animals in the most abusive way for many many years. And he is serving a 22-year sentence for plotting to murder Carole Baskin, one of the world's 'animal people'. He is a thoroughly obnoxious individual.

These two individuals are in stark contrast to each other. You cannot say what Camilla Long has written about them which is as follows:

What's the difference between Farthing and the execrable human beings who run roadside tiger parks in America?

Well, I agree about the execrable human beings who exploit big cats and abuse them in the process but as mentioned there is a big difference. There's a big difference between exploitation and saving lives. In fact, they are at the opposite end of the spectrum of our relationship with humans.

Doctor faced 31 counts of animal cruelty and one count of child endangerment

NEWS AND COMMENT-VACAVILLE, CALIFORNIA: A qualified doctor (for humans) was facing 21 counts of animal cruelty and one count of child endangerment. However, she has not been charged by the Yolo County District Attorney Office. It is an interesting case because the public does not generally associate doctors (I believe that she is in general practice) and what appears to be animal hoarding resulting in neglect, negligence and abuse. I feel sorry for her. There but for the grace of God go I is what I think when I read these sorts of stories. It's quite easy to get into the situation where you can no longer cope, where you are vulnerable and sinking slightly or greatly.

I suspect that she has not been charged because it wouldn't be helpful. She needs help rather than punishment. I am sure that is the reason why the District Attorney decided not to prosecute. It's a shame in some ways because you end up with animals that suffer and in a strict sense there should be some punishment for that. Her child also suffered it seems. I have to make it clear that these are allegations at the moment because I don't know anything about it other than what is reported on the news media online. Sometimes they can be imprecise and inaccurate.

I had some concerns about publishing a photograph of the woman but I think I have to because her details are spelled-out and therefore it is not difficult to find a photograph on the Internet. She looks entirely normal and pretty happy in the photograph. It's a great shame. There is an argument that cat and animal hoarders should be counselled and treated rather than punished because ultimately it comes down to mental health which is often beyond the control of the person involved.

Keeping deceased cats and kittens in freezers is commonplace for cat hoarders. I don't think there's anything malicious about this behaviour. I think it is probably more to do with wanting to keep the animal close to the person rather than buried or cremated at which point they have conclusively lost the animal.

Her son was removed from her home because the conditions therein were dirty and unsafe. She is no longer seeing patients but she is qualified to do so. Her name is Dr. Rebecca Darsey. Her biography is still out on the Internet. The police found six dead kittens in her freezer. They also found 24 adult cats, six of which were deceased, five dogs and eight exotic birds at her home. 

We are told that her home was a mess which goes with the territory of being an animal hoarder and out-of-control. Her son was unable to sleep in his room because it was used to house animals.

Sadly, Dr. Rebecca Darsey was self-medicating for anxiety and depression. She was taking prednisone, Effexor and Maxalt. The last drug is used for the treatment of migraine headaches. Effexor is an antidepressant of the serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor class. It can also be used for chronic pain. And it is used to treat generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder and social phobia. It seems that she didn't have her own doctor.

Her medical license is valid. News media reached out to the medical board for comment without success at the time of the report. The doctor's medical license expires at the end of 2021.

Malaysian Movement Control Order stressed people leading to increased cat abuse

NEWS AND COMMENT: This is probably expected as when people are stressed they tend to do silly things. Things that they wouldn't normally do. They lose their self-discipline, if they have any in the first place. And so it is reported that the problems and stresses of what Malaysia calls their Movement Control Order (MCO) implemented during the Covid crisis to put a brake on the spread of the disease has led to a rise in cases of cats being abused and abandoned.

Cat shelter Malaysia. Photo: New Straits Times.

The Malaysia Cat Club president Khalid Rashid said:

"Compared to the years before the MCO, the number of cats being rescued is higher since last year until September this year. In fact, some of the rescue cats were also abused, with some found with burns on their bodies as a result of being splashed with hot oil just for stealing food. We believe the increase in the number of cats being abandoned and abused during the MCO period was perhaps due to stress and other problems faced by some."

The Malaysia Animal Association (Persatuan Suara Haiwan Malaysia) was set up to help reduce animal cruelty. They have a animal police hotline and they want volunteers. It is not clear to me how it will work but they clearly feel there is a need to do something about reducing the number of animal abuse cases.

I am afraid the domestic and stray cat, wherever they are in the world, is a ready made target for animal abuse when it emerges. This is a case in point.

Source: New Straits Times

Domestic cat recovered from nine stab wounds and was happily rehomed

NEWS AND COMMENT-WIGAN, UK: I am very reluctant to write about the story because nowadays I shy away from writing about cat abuse stories of this nature. There's too many of them and it's been overdone. Unfortunately, the news media do tend to rely upon cat stories which involve abuse. I suppose all news is bad news and it applies to cats like any other topic.

Jasmine Dickinson and Katie. Photo: Jam Press/RSPCA.

But I also think that the news media should not have picked up on this story. They say that the cat was stabbed nine times and survived. The cat's name incidentally is Katie and she is a black and white cat as you can see. But, in truth, if this cat had been stabbed nine times she would not have survived. These were not genuine stab wounds but slashing wounds which cut the skin but they weren't very deep. That is why Katie survived. So, the news media have exaggerated this with their title which I have adopted in order to emphasise the point that it is actually misleading.

Another thing about the story which I don't like is that the person who slashed at Katie was mentally ill. He or she didn't know what they were doing. We can't blame them, can we? Perhaps we shouldn't write about people who are mentally ill because it is using their mental illness to make money. The news media are using the mental health problems of this individual, indirectly, to write a story which helps to support their newspaper. I don't think that is ethically correct. I am probably being a little bit picky but I think you have to be if you want to analyse the sorts of things accurately.

Another aspect of the story which is perhaps interesting rather than troublesome is that they say that Katie recovered and was rehabilitated. In other words, she appears not to have been affected mentally and does not suffer from PTSD. Can cats suffer from PTSD? In my view, domestic cats do forget these sorts of incidents if they are adult cats and Katie is seven years of age.

If this sort of trauma had happened when Katie was within her formative first seven weeks of life it would have traumatised her in my opinion. But the news media story focuses on whether she is traumatised by saying that she is a bit scared when strangers come to the home. But this is entirely normal and it will happen to most cats including those who have not been through any trauma. So that aspect of the story is, in my opinion, slightly misleading.

But the good part of the story is that Katie survived and is doing well. She was rescued by the RSPCA and rehabilitated at the charity's Oldham and Bury branch. After two months she was fully recovered and adopted by Jasmine Dickinson, 28, an attractive young woman. Before adoption, Jasmine said that she enjoyed the company of a cat when she was younger and was looking forward to adopt Katie. She applied to the RSPCA and was told about Katie's traumatic story. This made her even keener to adopt her. The adoption was finalised in March and, as mentioned, Katie is now settled into her new home in Wigan.

Jasmine says that Katie is sweet-natured and likes to be near her. Katie is a lap cat and very affectionate. She likes to be petted. All is well, it seems to me.

We don't know the circumstances of the stabbing. Sometimes cat owners become mentally ill. And sometimes people who are mentally ill are able to adopt cats or acquire them. In a better world, in an ideal world, mentally ill patients should not be able to adopt a domestic cat unless they've been cleared by a specialist as not being a danger to animals. 

Domestic cats can probably help a mentally ill person as can domestic dogs. There are many therapy dogs for instance. But I don't believe you can put a mentally ill person with a cat or dog unless you have assessed that form of mental illness carefully and decided that it will not result in animal abuse of any kind.

Source: Metro.co.uk.

Stupidest video I have had the misfortune to see and a form of cat abuse

 

What is the effing point of this ridiculous video? It is horrible but thankfully it is short. It is a minor form of cat abuse. The video was made to amuse people. And, ridiculously, some people on YouTube are amused but I'm afraid they are airheads with nothing between the ears. The person who made this video thought he would do something cheap and easy to try and get the attention of people so that he could make a bit of money. It is the usual scenario; abuse a domestic cat to entertain people!

Fortunately, the video is a failure because only 2000 or so people have seen it. You don't make a lot of advertising money with those kinds of numbers. But it is remarkable the number of videos you see on YouTube which are based upon animal abuse. And I have seen a similar video to this one many years ago in which a man yells at his Maine Coon cat to see the reaction. He even called the video "Yelling at Cats" or something like that. It was monstrous, worse than this one. But this one is pretty idiotic as well.

CLICK THIS TO SEE A VETERINARIAN ABUSE AN ELDERLY CAT. IT IS HORRIBLE TOO.

The current rash of YouTube videos in which animals are ostensibly rescued but which are in fact entirely fake is not mild animal abuse but gross animal abuse. People are putting animals in great danger and then supposedly rescuing them while videoing the whole thing. These videos get a lot of views and these people do make money which encourages them to do more of the same thing. And the great shame of this is that the administrators of YouTube do nothing about it or if they do something about it, it is not enough.

It is truly time that social media stopped people abusing animals in order to garner views and celebrity. The trouble is that social media is out of control. The administrators simply don't have the number of people and the resources to monitor the millions of videos which are uploaded weekly or even daily. I don't know how many but it is an enormous number.

And this particular video has been shared amongst other platforms such as Buzz Videos. And Viral Hog should not have put this video on their YouTube channel. Where are the ethics? What is the matter with the administrators and managers of these companies?

Singapore is another country where they don't punish animal abusers with enough severity

NEWS AND COMMENT: Animal lovers in Singapore are unhappy with a 12-week jail sentence handed down to a man who decided to slash 11 street cats which inflicted deep and troublesome wounds. It happened in an area called Ang Mo Kio. The wounds were life-threatening on occasions it seems to me. Each count of animal cruelty in Singapore carries a possible jail term of up to 18 months and a maximum fine of 15,000 Singapore dollars or both. So, the sentence could have been much longer.

 Singapore is another country where they don't punish animal abusers with enough severity. Image: MikeB.

Leow Wei Liang, 37, pleaded guilty to 3 of the charges and another four were taken into consideration on sentencing. Animal lovers and volunteers who care for the street cat are angry because he has been under-sentenced. If the report is complete, I would have thought too that the judge could have made an order against this man to recompense the volunteers who paid for expensive veterinary fees out of their own pockets.

Milo's medical fees combined with temporary boarding came to 3,000 Singapore dollars. Milo remains at a boarding facility. He has been there for more than two months recovering from complications from the nasty wounds inflicted on him. Milo, a grey cat, had a 10 cm gash on his left flank.

MANY PAGES ON ANIMAL LAW - CLICK FOR ARTICLES PLEASE

Raymond Tan, 44, helped to look after four of the injured cats. He spent nearly a month trying to trap one who was too frightened to come out. When they finally trapped the cat Tan said that "the wound was infested with maggots and the cat was very weak."

He said that he was angry and disappointed with the sentencing. It is the sort of sentencing on conviction for animal abuse and cruelty which not only angers Singaporeans but all decent people who care about the welfare of animals. There has to be a deterrent to animal cruelty and the sentence does not achieve that.

Nicole Chan, 33, a housewife who took care of three of the cats said: "Eleven cats suffered at Leow's hands. And because of what he did, we had to get nine other stray cats off the streets and into boarding facilities to prevent more attacks. There needs to be more deterrence for abusers."

Kitten head shape candy incites violence against cats

NEWS AND COMMENT: Jamie Laing is an English actor and television personality and also the founder of a confectionery business called Candy Kittens. Candy Kittens makes candy (sweets in the UK) in the shape of a kitten's head. They are dusted with sugar and as you can see from the photograph, they feature noticeable cat ears and the rest is just a round shape. It's a really good name, I think, and no doubt it is a successful company.

Candy Kittens. Image: online shop.

In what some believe is a fake tweet on Twitter, somebody criticised Jamie Laing's business for inciting violence against cats on the basis that you put the candy in your mouth and chew it. And therefore, symbolically you are eating a cat. This is not a good message to send out to others in an age when animal welfare is rising up the agenda (hopefully).

Candy Kittens - the criticism. Image: Twitter screenshot.

The person who tweeted the post asked why people were legitimising violence against cats. They stated that the confectionery company encouraged violence towards cats. Of course, Jamie Laing found it unbelievable which probably led to the suggestion that it's a fake or computer-generated tweet.

The critic suggested that they could be called "fruity discs" i.e. no suggestion of an animal, a neutral object. One of Jamie's friends by the look of it, and an actor called Max George (The Wanted) said: "They're FIT. And I don't like cats."

I don't think that comment is helpful because it seems to suggest he does not care if the sweets encourage violence against cats. Thank you, Max, but it is not a good comment. It was suggested that when kids eat them, they might think that there are eating a cat thereby "degrading cats' right to exist. It's borderline animal cruelty. Ban."

Jamie Laing. Image: Rex.

Comment: what do you think? Certainly, Jamie Laing deliberately chose a kitten's head because cats are popular so he wanted to combine a popular companion animal with something that was sweet and tasty. A successful combination. He could have chosen anything other than an animal. Although Percy Pigs are pretty well the same thing but nobody has criticised that item of candy of encouraging violence against pigs. Or Jelly Babies.

This may be because cats and kittens are more closely associated with people as companion animals to be loved and cherished, whereas pigs are livestock normal.

When I think about the criticism, I have to admit that I do see the argument and I might have a slight resistance, at least, to eating Candy Kittens. If Jamie Laing had chosen a different name, it probably wouldn't have been successful. Clearly, the name was chosen specifically to include the word "kittens". In fact, the entire name has been very carefully constructed and I don't think this business would be successful without that name.

The co-founder has slammed Felicity the person who criticised the business. It's a pushback which is bound to happen. Perhaps we have to look at the wider picture, open the mind to the possibility that this is something which undermines animal welfare. It might do. We don't really know but there is at least a justifiable argument there.