People accused of abusing animals were hauled to court the equivalent of six times a day across England and Wales last year. Animal cruelty has come under the spotlight after professional footballer Kurt Zouma admitted kicking and slapping his cat.
The West Ham United player pleaded guilty to two counts under the Animal Welfare Act when he appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court in east London on Tuesday morning. Zouma, 27, was forced to apologise after harrowing footage was filmed and shared by his younger brother Yoan, 24, who admitted one offence during the hearing.
The older sibling joins thousands of people across England and Wales who have faced charges of animal cruelty in recent years. In 2021 alone, 2,028 such offences were prosecuted in courts across the two nations, Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures show – around six per day on average.
That was up from 1,743 the previous year – a drop likely to be driven partly by the pandemic – but was still far below the 3,029 recorded in 2019. Overall, defendants were prosecuted for 12,720 animal cruelty offences in the five years to 2021, while over the same period, 8,090 offences ended in a conviction.
Some of the convictions may relate to an earlier period if a court case started and finished in different years. The figures include cases in which an animal cruelty offence was the most serious charge, as well as those in which someone stood accused of animal cruelty alongside other crimes carrying tougher sentences.
Data on sentencing, which only includes those in which animal cruelty was the principal offence, shows the most common punishment was a community sentence, whereby someone avoids jail but may have to do unpaid work or meet other requirements. Between 2017 and 2021, 1,153 animal cruelty offenders received this type of penalty from a court.
The next most common outcome was a fine (872), followed by a suspended sentence (803), meaning someone serves their punishment in the community but can be sent to prison if they don’t comply or commit another crime. Over the five years, 310 defendants across England and Wales convicted of such serious animal cruelty were sent straight to jail.
The data, which covers a period before the Zoumas’ offences, includes charges under sections 4-8 of the Animal Welfare Act as well as other animal cruelty offences. In the case of the brothers, the court was told about disturbing footage of the incident, filmed at the older Zouma’s home and posted on Snapchat by his brother on February 6.
It was later seen by a woman who had been messaging Yoan, who raised the alarm. Frenchman Zouma could be seen volleying the Bengal cat across his kitchen, before throwing a pair of shoes at it and slapping its head.
Prosecutor Hazel Stevens told the court Kurt Zouma could be heard saying: “I swear I’ll kill it, I swear I’ll kill it.” He admitted two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal on February 6.
Yoan admitted one count of aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring his older brother to commit an offence. Ms Stevens added: “Since this footage was put in public domain there has been a spate of people hitting cats and posting it on various social media sites.”
The court heard the Premier League defender has since agreed for his two Bengal male cats to be rehomed. Trevor Burke QC, for his client, said Kurt Zouma had been subject to racist abuse and threats, lost a “substantial” sponsorship deal with Adidas, was fined £250,000 and had no longer been picked for the France national team since the furore over the footage emerged.
The brothers, whose addresses cannot be published because of concerns over the threats to the pair, were released on bail ahead of their sentencing at the same court next week.
In a statement, RSPCA chief inspectorate officer Dermot Murphy said: “It’s never acceptable to treat an animal in this way and we were shocked when the video was first brought to our attention. What makes this case even more sad is the way the video was filmed and shared, making light of such cruelty. We hope this case will serve as a reminder that all animals deserve to be treated with kindness, compassion and respect, and that we will not tolerate cruelty by anybody.”
