China badminton player paralysed after standing on stray cat in stadium during game, court orders feline ‘keeper’ pay US$33,000 in compensation

Wu was engrossed in the game, focusing on his colleague who was ready to serve the ball. After he jumped to return the serve, he felt himself land on something furry.

He lost his balance and fell to the ground. In hospital, Wu was diagnosed with compound fractures and paralysis in his right leg.

He later sued the badminton stadium and its employee and put in a request for compensation of 350,000 yuan (US$49,000).

A colleague told investigators that Xiao regularly fed the cat in a toilet at the stadium and would bathe it and take it to the vet when required.

As a result, the court deemed Xiao to be the cat’s keeper.

Xiao defended himself saying he fed the cat but did not keep it as his pet. He contended that he was neither with the cat when the accident happened, nor could he control its movements.

The court was not convinced and said keepers should take responsibility if their pets bring harm to others and ordered Xiao to pay compensation of 240,000 yuan (US$33,000).

In addition, the court said Xiao’s employer who owns the badminton stadium, must pay some of the compensation if Xiao did not complete his payments.

The story has divided opinion on Weibo. At the time of writing, it had attracted 5.36 million views and 13,000 comments.

“I support the verdict. If he really cares for the cat, he should take it home rather than just feeding it,” one person said.

Another said: “This sends a warning message to people who feed stray animals, does it not?”

“It feels sad. Who would dare to feed stray animals now?” a third wrote.

“Do you not think the badminton stadium should be mainly responsible for the accident?” someone else asked.