Prosecutors in Russia's Chelyabinsk region are checking into a case of suspected animal abuse after a video of a cat spinning around in a washing machine was posted online by its owners, a news report said Tuesday.
The video, which was republished by regional news site Pervy Oblastny, opens with a close up of the worried-looking cat, which is sitting inside a washing machine drum with the door closed.
As the video progresses, the washing machine is turned on and the cat starts frantically looking for a way out. Water starts filling up the drum, and a woman off camera is heard laughing and saying, "it's panic."
The rotations start to get more powerful, and video footage shows the cat struggling to stay upright. It can be heard meowing as the cameraman zooms in on the washing machine window. The video ends with the owners letting the cat out of the machine and it running off into an adjacent room.
Prosecutors in the city of Magnitogorsk have been made aware of the video, which was posted on social media sites, and are checking for signs of animal abuse, Interfax news agency cited a spokesman for the office as saying.
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