Canadian video game streamer Alinity apologizes for throwing cat in video

Caught on cam: Gamer tosses cat during live stream A popular Saskatchewan gamer says she called her local SPCA after a video of her throwing a cat went viral.

A Canadian video game streamer is being accused of animal abuse after she was seen throwing her cat behind her during a recent livestream.

In a video snippet posted on Thursday, Natalia Mogollon, who streams under the handle Alinity on Twitch, appears to pick up her cat Milo from beneath the camera frame and tosses the animal over her shoulders.

The original video has been viewed more than 6.57 million times and, by Friday, several copycat videos had garnered hundreds of thousands of views of their own.

The videos have also racked up thousands of critical comments, threats and calls for the Saskatchewan-based streamer’s removal from Twitch. The incident even became a moment on Twitter.

One person tweeted, “if you ‘game so hard’ that you toss animals without any thought, it's time to stop gaming or stop owning animals.”

PETA weighed in too, tweeting at their followers to “take a stand for cats & please remove Alinity from Twitch immediately.”

“Cats are not props to abuse for more views,” the group stated.

In a tweet, Saskatoon SPCA said a “formal cruelty complaint regarding this matter” was filed with their animal protection department. They added the matter is “currently under investigation.”

Alinity took to Twitter on Friday to apologize and explain her actions.

“Hey everyone, I understand the concern and I am sorry for my lapses in judgement,” she wrote in a tweet. “Shouldn't have gotten frustrated with Milo, but I dropped him on the floor behind my chair. I'm not that strong.”

In the wake of the original video, a series of other snippets have made the rounds online. In one such video, it appears Alinity can be seen kicking her dog and in another clip she takes a swig of vodka, then spits it into the cat’s mouth.

Alinity alluded to the latter video, which she says was from 2018, writing on Twitter, “the Vodka thing was well over a year ago but it was also a stupid thing to do.”

Then, in another tweet to her 89,000 followers, she acknowledged and understood her critics reporting her actions to animal care authorities.

“I also understand the desire to report me to pet authorities and encourage anyone to do so if they feel pets are being mistreated, by anyone, anywhere,” she tweeted. “My animals are well loved, and live in a warm and caring home, and I will comply with any authority that seeks to validate this.”

In a third tweet she wrote, “I think a lot of people are doing this because they believe they are doing the right thing, so no salt. I don't pretend to be perfect, and I will always try to do better, and improve myself.”

CTVNews.ca has reached out to Alinity for comment, but so far our request has gone unreturned.