Chinese authorities have detained a man who sparked public outrage after abusing dogs and filming them torturing them, then allegedly selling the footage online.
According to local media, the man appeared publicly as a person who loves animals and who adopts dogs for free, but later it turned out that he abused several cats and dogs that he took in.
The whole case came to light after a friend of the woman who gave him the puppies for adoption shared her experience online. This caused a public reaction, after which more than 100 people gathered in front of his house in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing.
Claims that the police intervened and dispersed the crowd appeared on social networks, and some users stated that the police officers chased away the protesters.
A man surnamed Li posted an ad on the Chinese platform Douyin earlier this month in which he said he wanted to adopt dogs for free, claiming that his children “love puppies,” local media reported.
A few days later, volunteers from an animal protection organization found one of the adopted dogs abandoned on the stairs of his building. The puppy reportedly had a broken leg, severed tail and head injuries.
Videos circulating online show large numbers of people outside his home, with some protesters carrying banners with messages against animal abuse. On one it was written: “He who abuses animals is also ready to do violence to people”, while on the other it was written: “Stop the abuse of animals and introduce a law against cruelty”.
The police did not say for which exact crime the suspect is being investigated. Animal cruelty in China is still not clearly regulated by law, although public awareness of animal protection has been growing in recent years.
After the information about his arrest was published, there were numerous calls for harsher punishments on social networks.
“This is horrible. The most severe punishment is needed,” wrote one user on China’s Weibo.
(Vijesti.ba)
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