A female hunter who caused outrage after she was filmed shooting a pet cat with a handgun after it was caught in a live trap has been let off with a warning.

The footage, which was filmed in a forest near the town of Zusmarshausen in the district of Augsburg in the southern German state of Bavaria in December 2020, caused outrage after it was released by an animal rights organisation at the beginning of January this year.

It has now been revealed that the woman, who has not been identified, has been let off with a warning.

The video of the incident starts with the woman, whose face has been pixellated, walking towards the cage while holding a pistol, with a man advising her to cover her ears because of the loud sound of the gun.

She moves towards a pile of fir tree branches that have been put over a cage to disguise the trap, in which a domesticated cat appears to have been caught.

The terrified black and white feline runs backwards and forwards in the narrow confinements of the cage as the woman tries to point the gun at its head.

The man who is with her, and whose voice has been slowed down to disguise it, makes comments about aiming for its head.

After the bullet is fired, he observes that it was not a clear a headshot, and then says: “Shoot it again because it didn’t work.”

He then says: “Hey, you shot it twice in the head.”

But the feline is still alive, and it can be seen kicking and convulsing in its final moments.

The frustrated woman then says “hey, I can’t shoot it five times”, and she walks off, with the man observing that the cat seems to be dead.

But he then sees that it is still moving, so she returns and shoots it a third time – with the woman pointing out that she only has five bullets and has already used three.

They then decide that the cat is dead a few seconds later, and at the end, it can be seen bloodstained and being dragged across the ground by its tail.

German animal rights organisation Soko Tierschutz said it was an example of the sort of brutality that was probably the reason that many domestic cats go missing.

The Bavarian Hunting Association (BJV) expressed outrage at the time at the “cruel killing of a domestic cat”.

BJV President Ernst Weidenbusch said in a statement: “The basis for our hunt is respect for creation. What can be seen in the videos about the killing of the domestic cat does not conform to animal welfare, is not ethical and therefore not acceptable to us.”

The BJV statement said: “Hunters are allowed to kill poaching cats under hunting law if they are more than 300 metres from the nearest inhabited building. For the hunters who hunt like a huntsman, however, there is an unwritten commandment not to kill any animal that could bear a name. This is also what is taught in hunter training.”

Weidenbusch added: “We teach our hunting students to take accidentally caught cats to an animal shelter if the owner is not known.

“The Bavarian Hunting Association has now asked the so-called Hunters’ Committee of Swabia to investigate the incident in detail and, if necessary, to initiate proceedings for violating German hunting principles under the Federal Hunting Act. In such a case, the Hunters’ Committee recommends that the authorities revoke the hunter’s hunting licence.”

It has now emerged that the woman has reportedly been let off with a warning by the District Court of Augsburg. The penalty for violating the local Animal Welfare Act reportedly provides for a fine, but only if the woman commits another offence or fails to meet the conditions set out by the ruling regarding this offence.

The defendant also has the right to appeal this decision.

The incident was also investigated by the Bavarian Hunting Association and the Swabian Hunters’ Committee, but it is unclear if either organisation has taken any action over the matter.

Weidenbusch, said: “What can be seen in the videos of the killing of the house cat is not animal welfare compliant, not ethical and therefore unacceptable to us.”