One of the teenagers was filmed throwing the cat in the air while her friends looked on and laughed, Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno reported.
Her cousin then posted the clip, which showed the cat finishing up on the ground in a state of terror, on a social networking site. The cat fled as the protagonist tried to capture it.
Antonella Brunetti, the president of the Italian animal rights group, AIDAA, told the newspaper that violent acts towards animals have become more frequent in recent years among adolescents “who crave fame on social networks”.
In a similar incident in August, also in Puglia, police arrested a jogger after he was caught on a surveillance camera hurling three puppies across a street. He was arrested after the video appeared on YouTube.
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