Policeman beats golden retriever to death in public

A shocking video went viral on the Chinese internet over the New Year weekend showing a man beating a golden retriever to death with a club on a public street in Changsha, Hunan Province. The abuse went on for almost three hours before the dog died. The abuser was later identified as a police officer in the city’s Tianxin District, who claimed that he decided to kill the dog after receiving reports that it had bitten people.

In the extremely disturbing video (Warning: We mean “extremely disturbing”), the terrified golden retriever is chained to a road barrier and repeatedly beaten by the policeman. According to some witnesses, a few pedestrians attempted to stop the beating, but the police officer paid them no heed.

After the footage circulated on Chinese social media and ignited a wave of condemnation, the district’s police authority released a statement (in Chinese) on its official Weibo account, saying that the dog had attacked four people before the policeman arrived at the scene. When the dog’s owner could not be found, the police officer chose to kill it to “prevent it from attacking more people.” He did not have a tranquilizer gun or other suitable weapon, so he used a wooden club. The statement also confirms the legal validity of the policeman’s behavior by quoting the city’s dog laws: “Stray dogs without owners or valid licenses are subjected to killing by the police,” the regulation reads.

Many dog lovers were not satisfied with the statement. They said it was inappropriate to brutally kill a dog in public, and that the police officer should have tried harder to find the dog’s owner.

Many internet users were so furious at the policeman that they launched a crowdsourced investigation. This ended in the publication of a man’s phone number and home address. Sina Video reports that the man was disturbed by thousands of insulting and threatening texts, and that some sympathizers even went to his home to express their anger, although the man had nothing to do with the case. In the face of mounting harassment, the man took to Weibo (in Chinese) to clarify that he was not involved in the case.

• Virtual reality
  Chinese zoo uses virtual reality to allow visitors to ‘interact’ with animals / SCMP
• Live streaming
  Chinese student nurse may face disciplinary action after live-streaming herself at work / SCMP
• Gender discrimination
  Why China’s female teachers-to-be struggle to find good jobs / Sixth Tone
• TV
  Successful reality show ‘The Birth of Actors’ surrounded by controversy / What’s on Weibo
• Video games
  A female-targeted relationship simulation game has taken China by storm / TechNode
  Man drops dead after mahjong lucky ‘draw dead wall’ / What’s on Weibo
  ‘Pokémon Go’ set for mainland China release / Shanghaiist
• Esports
  Video: Inside a Chinese girls’ e-sports team training spot / TechNode
  Shanghai’s plot to become the esports capital of the world / Sixth Tone
• Tragedy
  Two Chinese children die in stabbing after basketball game row / SCMP
• Tragedy averted
  Chinese military officer saves rookie’s life after he drops grenade / SCMP
• Internet celebrity
  Aoi Sora announces she is married, shatters millions of hearts / Shanghaiist