In mainland China, a series of brutal incidents of dog abuse have shocked the nation. On July 20th, the topic of “Two Skinned Puppies Die Due to Infection” trended on social media, sparking widespread attention.
In both April and July this year, there were two vicious cases of dog abuse in Houma City, Linfen, Shanxi Province, where a 12-year-old Chihuahua and a 20-day-old puppy were skinned by humans, leading to fatal infections.
The Shanxi Linfen Houma Stray Dog Shelter publicly announced a reward of 10,000 RMB for information leading to the perpetrators of these two cases of skinning and abuse of dogs.
According to a report by “Concerned Citizens,” a volunteer named Lu described how in April, a 12-year-old Chihuahua was found near the Lu Xi Police Station by volunteers, with only a little skin left on its body below the neck.
Another puppy, just over twenty days old, was found and taken to the hospital by a boy in the South Zhuang District of Houma in early July.
Lu stated that both dogs suffered severe pain and infections due to the extensive skinning. Despite efforts to save them with the best medications, both dogs eventually succumbed to the infections due to their poor health conditions as senior and young dogs.
As no effective leads were obtained despite the reward being offered for several days, they are considering filing a report with the local authorities.
After the incident was exposed, it once again sparked public outrage.
On Weibo, a user named “AntsSay” commented, “Abusing animals to this extent; if they are not apprehended, they are nurturing potential killers!”
Another user, “GoldenCoffee,” expressed deep frustration after reading the news about the two puppies being skinned consecutively. The act was described as despicable, causing discomfort and anger at the thought of someone being so ruthless towards innocent dogs.
The article emphasized the lack of a comprehensive animal protection law, which often results in minimal consequences for perpetrators of such cruel acts, leading to a rise in animal abuse cases. It stressed that regardless of personal preferences towards animals, using such brutal methods to harm them is unacceptable, as treating animals kindly reflects the inherent goodness of humanity. Those who harm helpless animals, whether young or old, raise concerns about their inner cruelty.
The article concluded that the perpetrators displayed extreme psychological distortion, resorting to excessively brutal methods in their cruelty towards the animals, often escaping severe legal consequences due to weak deterrents. The cycle of animal abuse persists due to this fundamental issue.
Weibo user “NewVegetables” and several netizens condemned the heinous act, labeling it as something not even animals would do. They raised concerns that individuals involved in such cruelty towards animals might escalate to harmful actions against humans.
On June 28th, in Xinheng Town, Jiedong District, Jieyang City, Guangdong Province, four youths mercilessly abused dogs, beating a mother dog with a stick and fatally injuring defenseless newborn puppies by poking them with a stick, leading to the death of the puppies.
Videos from the scene showed the youths escalating the violence by pouring oil on the injured mother dog and burning it alive, illustrating the extent of their brutality throughout the entire ordeal.
Reports attempted to contact various local departments on June 30th but received no responses.
The atrocious incidents of dog abuse have stirred public anger. However, due to strict control by the authorities, online posts discussing the matter were swiftly deleted or restricted, and some individuals even had their accounts banned.
Amid the widespread outrage, some public figures have joined the outcry. Actors Du Jiang from mainland China and Joe Chen from Taiwan expressed their views, but their posts were also taken down, leading to the blocking of the trending topic “Joe Chen’s Post Deleted” as well.
Subsequently, netizens shifted their discussions to overseas platforms like Threads to continue addressing the related issues.
Simultaneously, large-scale advertisements have appeared in different cities worldwide.
Upon hearing that ads were placed near Times Square in New York, Chen, a Chinese national living in the United States, and her friends decided to visit the site, holding banners with slogans like “Justice 4 Wang Wang” and shared the photos on social media.
According to a report by BBC Chinese, there is no nationwide legislation in China for animal protection or anti-animal cruelty laws, and as the individuals involved are underage, there has been no criminal accountability for these incidents.