RSPCA DENIES Moyes' suggestion it could give Zouma animal cruelty lessons

THE RSPCA has DENIED West Ham manager David Moyes' suggestion it may give disgraced footballer Kurt Zouma animal welfare lessons after he was filmed kicking his cat.

The charity has insisted it is still investigating the defender - and has not received a donation from the club after it promised to give his docked £250,000 wages to animal welfare organisations.

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The 27-year-old could also still face charges for animal cruelty.

Following backlash, manager David Moyes said he believed the RSPCA was going to give Zouma lessons on how to treat animals properly.

But the animal charity spoke out today today to say there are "no plans made for animal welfare courses to be undertaken" - and it is "entirely focused" on the investigation.

The Sun understands West Ham does intend to talk to the RSPCA about possible lessons, but admits nothing has been agreed yet.

Moyes, 58, said in a press conference yesterday: "In most drink-driving offences, they have to go to classes to learn from it.

"I think the RSPCA are going to provide us provide us with some courses to help him understand how to treat animals.

"We will do everything we can to help Kurt get better. As a club, we will do everything we can so that we can resolve it."

The club also claimed it would donate £250,000 - two week's worth of Zouma's wages - to animal charities.

But bosses for the RSPCA - who in 2020 helped to rehome more than 3,000 animals - said they had not been offered or accepted any donation.

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West Ham declined to discuss the donation and said it was important to let the RSPCA investigation conclude fairly.

A spokesperson for the RSPCA 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: www.rspca.org.uk/findapet.

“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.

“Due to the fact that this is a live investigation, we are limited in what we can say, however we will provide updates when we are able."

It follows The Sun's exclusive circulation of horrific footage of Zouma booting his cat around his kitchen.

In the chilling footage, the West Ham defender is seen attacking the pet at his £2million mansion while his brother films him.

Zouma, 27, drops the moggy and boots it in mid air across the kitchen floor.

The French international then chases the animal around his dining room in front of a child as the cameraman laughs.

Zouma also hurls a pair of designer shoes at the pet — which frantically tries to escape.

In a final clip, he is seen forcefully slapping the cat in the face — and out of the child’s arms.

Zouma's cats have now been rescued by the RSCPA after thousands of people lodged complaints.

Zouma issued a grovelling apology for the attack and insisted it was an isolated incident.

He said: “I want to apologise for my actions. There are no excuses for my behaviour, which I sincerely regret.

“I also want to say how deeply sorry I am to anyone who was upset by the video. I would like to assure everyone that our two cats are perfectly fine and healthy.

“They are loved and cherished by our entire family, and this behaviour was an isolated incident that will not happen again.”#

It is understood the £30million former Chelsea player was furious that the Bengal — an expensive breed of domesticated cat that looks like a small leopard — messed up his house.

A source said: “It seemed that Kurt had got angry at the cat for accidentally smashing some sort of vase and tearing down a light fixture from the kitchen cupboard.

“But what he does next is completely unacceptable. Kurt kicks it, throws shoes at it and then slaps it. The poor cat looked so scared.”

The disturbing footage was filmed by Zouma’s brother Yoan and posted to Snapchat on Sunday afternoon — a day after the centre-back appeared for West Ham in the FA Cup.

The first clip was captioned “sa commence”, which translates into English as “it is starting”.

It is replaced with a dozen laughing face emojis in later clips.