On the evening of April 6, photos and a video of a corgi dog being beaten to death went viral in China sparking online fury. The dog was killed over fears it could spread Covid after its owner tested positive and was taken into isolation. The incident happened in a residential compound in the Pudong district of Shanghai.
In the viral photos and video, the dog chases after a van presumably carrying its owner to a quarantine facility. It is then chased down by the worker in full PPE kit who hits the dog with a spade 3 times, killing it on the spot. A WeChat account ‘corgi sh’ first posted about the incident which subsequently went viral on all social media platforms in China. People already frustrated with the strict covid lockdowns and food shortages in Shanghai were furious to see visuals of the worker killing the dog.
Initially, it was reported that the man killing the dog was a healthcare worker, however, later reports emerged that he was a gate guard at the compound. He killed the dog after its owner tested positive for Coronavirus to try and stop the spread of the disease.
The dog’s owner has claimed the neighbourhood committee refused to help care for the the corgi, whilst the committee said it was concerned the pet could have been infected too. There has not been any confirmed cases of animals passing the virus back to humans, but they still chose to kill the dog.
The online community in China, already frustrated with the lockdowns got really angry about this incident. Chinese social media Weibo has been abuzz with comments about the incident for the past three days.
“The man is a monster. He wants to fight Covid, but who gave him the right to kill an innocent life?” one Weibo user commented.
Another user said, “We would rather coexist with a virus than with this vicious and perverted person.”
This is not the first instance of pets being killed in China over Covid fears. In March this year, a woman from Huizhou city in Guangdong province shared a video of Covid workers beating her pet dog to death while she was in quarantine. Earlier in November 2021, there was another case of a dog being beaten to death by city workers in Shangrao in the eastern Jiangxi province because the owner was in quarantine.
Currently, all the 25 Million residents of Shanghai are under a strict lockdown as China tries to battle the latest wave of Coronavirus. Travel in and out of Shanghai has come to a standstill and the bustling metropolis wears a deserted look with only healthcare workers on the road.
