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London (AFP) – The English football club West Ham announced on Wednesday, February 9 that it had inflicted on its French international defender Kurt Zouma the ” biggest possible fine “, following the broadcast the day before of a video where the player mistreats his cat and that outraged England.
The maximum amount of a fine that a club can impose on its player is usually two weeks’ wages, which, in the case of the Frenchman, would amount to almost 300,000 euros in total.
«The player immediately accepted the fine and asked that the amount be paid to an animal rights organization”, the club said.
Shortly before the announcement, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), the world’s largest animal welfare organisation, said in the early followingnoon that the couple’s two cats had been taken from them.
«We would like to reassure everyone that we are investigating and that the cats are safe and that we are taking care of them,” the RSCPA tweeted.
«Kurt and the club are cooperating fully with the investigation and the player has, of his own free will, accepted all the measures taken initially, including giving the two family cats to the RSPCA to be examined“, explained for his part West Ham.
«Kurt is remorseful and, like everyone at the club, totally understands the intensity of the reaction caused by the incident and the need for action to be taken“, he added.
A petition in French and English calling for legal action once morest the player has also been a huge success on the platform change.org with almost 170,000 signatures by 15:50 (French time).
