- Qatar -
If you are watching all the 2022 FIFA World Cup games, the pre and post games TV shows, and press conferences, you got to see live a disturbing incident that happened on Friday, December 2, 2022, while Brazil and Real Madrid forward, 22-years-old Vinícius Júnior, was speaking to the media ahead of Brazil’s quarterfinal clash with Croatia.
A cat jumped on the table and sat next to the microphones. The furbaby appeared to be interested in the press conference minding his/her own business and did not look at all frightened by the noise around him/her.
The communication manager of the Brazil team, identified as VINICIUS RODRIGUES by fanpage.it, was sitting next to Vinícius Júnior and began to stroke the cat. All of a sudden, after a few seconds, he stood up and, grabbed the furbaby with both hands and threw him/her to the ground, provoking a moan of disapproval by some of the people present in the press room.
Needless to say, the video immediately went viral and many people rightfully slammed RODRIGUES for the mean way he handled the cat. He could have gently picked up the cat and placed him/her on the floor instead of throwing him/her the way he did.
You can see in the picture how the furbaby reacted to this.
Vinícius Júnior burst into stupid laughter as if the incident was amusing!
Following the reaction of those present in the press room, RODRIGUES justified his mean action by saying that that’s the only way to pick up a cat. His explanation, however, did not convince many netizens and animal rights activists, including PETA, and the controversy regarding this episode has literally flared up, especially in Brazil. According to fanpage.it, the intervention of the Regional Council of Veterinary Medicine of the State of São Paulo was necessary to try to defuse the situation. In a statement they declared that “in the conduct of Vinicius Rodrigues it did not find any element that could be defined as ill-treatment.”
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#animalcruelty #crueldadanimal #cruautéanimale #tierquälerei #animalslivesmatter #deathpenaltyforanimalabusers #cats #qatar #brazil #football #pressconference
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