West Ham's Zouma slapped with fine for kicking his cat

The UK's animal protection organisation, the RSPCA has taken two cats belonging to West Ham defender Kurt Zouma, following a videos which appeared on social media showing the player kicking one of his pets. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals contacted Essex Police to inform them of the incident.

According to reports in UK media, the player has been hit with a severe fine by his club - he must pay 300,000 euros - the equivalent of two weeks' wages. The money will be donated to animal welfare charities. West Ham announced that they would fine Zouma ""maximum amount possible following his actions in the video".

Zouma will not be in David Moyes' squad for Sunday's Premier League clash with Leicester after enduring a torrent of abuse from both sets of fans in the last outing against Watford. The France international publicly apologised for the incident and West Ham stated that they are dealing with the case internally.

"The two cats are now in RSPCA care," a spokesman for the organisation said. "Our priority is and has always been the wellbeing of these cats. They've been taken for a check-up at a vets and then will remain in our care while the investigation continues. We're grateful to everyone who expressed their concern for these cats. We were dealing with this issue before the video went viral online and are leading the investigation”.