A teenager who was filmed hitting a cat while his friends laughed has been taken into custody.
Footage of the incident started circulating Twitter earlier this week. It shows the 15-year-old approach the ginger cat, before he cruelly slaps it in the face. The cat then proceeds to jump off the wall.
In the clip, which is believed to have been filmed in Portsmouth, you can hear the teen's friends laughing, and the video was promptly posted to Snapchat, with the caption, ''Geezer''.
Unsurprisingly, the three-second clip created a furore after it was shared to Twitter. And now, the unidentified young man has been arrested by Hampshire Police under the Animal Welfare Act of 2006.
The video was shared to Twitter by Jai Bailey, who captioned it "Name and shame f*cking little pr*ck #Portsmouth.''
The clip quickly garnered over one million views, and eventually attracted the attention of the RSPCA.
''Turns my stomach. I hope people post updates on this. I want to know some justice has been done,'' wrote one social media user, while another corroborated ''Many of this generation are out of touch with what it takes to be a good human being. Lost their way for whatever reason and it is very sad. Imagine being cruel to an animal makes him feel strong.''
A spokesperson for Hampshire Police has since confirmed the arrest;
''We can confirm we are investigating an incident in Portsmouth in which a cat was hit in the face. We have received a report of the incident, and we are also aware of a related video that has been circulated widely on social media. An investigation is underway to establish the exact circumstances of what happened. We have also been in touch with the RSPCA.
Today our officers arrested a 15-year-old boy on suspicion of an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. He is currently in police custody.
Anyone with information, including anyone who directly witnessed this incident, should call police on 101 quoting the crime reference number 44190180705.''
And according to The Portsmouth News, a representative from the RSPCA added, "We are aware of the clip being circulated on social media and encourage anyone with information to contact us on 0300 1234 999.''
