Cops arrest 16-year-old from London as they probe sickening new cat-kicking craze which spread from the States

A BOY of 16 has been nicked in connection with a sick craze where yobs are filmed kicking cats into the air.

The vile phenomenon began in the US and has reached the UK.

One shocking video shows a young Brit coax a clueless moggy towards him and stroke it on the head.

But he then steps back and boots the poor pet in the stomach, sending it flying across a driveway.

Disgusted social media users have branded the culprit “scum” and said he should be locked up.

One wrote: “This is heartbreaking and disturbing to watch.”

Police in Lewisham, South East London, have arrested a 16-year-old boy on suspicion of animal cruelty after the video was put on Facebook. He was in custody yesterday.

The sister of another boy thought to have kicked the cat claimed it was “probably a joke”.

The clip has been shared more than a million times on social media with many people joking about it.

But campaign group Pet Abuse UK said it was a “grotesque act of violence which must be faced down by the right-thinking people in society”.

It added: “This is just the latest in a seemingly endless procession of attacks on helpless cats.”

The RSPCA had been made aware of the footage but passed all its evidence over to the Met.
It is one of a flurry of sickening videos to go online.

Footage from America shows a cat being kicked like a rugby ball tens of feet into the sky before it lands and runs off. Bystanders can be heard laughing.

Another clip sees a man again lure a cat towards him before he boots it away and it hits a parked car.

The latest spate of viral videos comes after a five-year-old boy was recorded on CCTV punching and kicking a moggie in Greater Manchester earlier this month.