Corgi beaten to death by Chinese healthcare worker in Shanghai

On 6 April 2022, photos and a video of a corgi being beaten to death by a Shanghai healthcare worker began to circulate Chinese social media after the WeChat account ‘corgi sh’ posted about the accident.

The post included screenshots of comments provided by the person who allegedly recorded the incident with their phone. It was confirmed that the incident happened in Pudong District in Shanghai. The dog’s owner had allegedly been taken away for quarantine after testing positive for Covid-19, after which the pet dog was killed by an anti epidemic worker with a stick in the middle of the street at Caoluzhen.

In November 2021, there was an outrage after a video went viral of a dog getting killed by anti-epidemic workers in Shangrao while the dog owner was undergoing quarantine at a hotel. More recently in March 2022, a similar incident happened in Huizhou, this time with a Samoyed dog. Both incidents were caught on home security cameras.

The latest incident did not happen inside a home, but rather on the streets of Pudong. The corgi was out on the street after its owners were taken away to a designated isolation site. The dog’s owner responded in a community WeChat group that they had let their dog out on the street for the community to take care of it since they feared the dog would starve to death if they just left it behind.

Once outside, the woman’s husband had wanted to bring the dog back inside their home, supposedly thinking it would be safer, but they were not allowed to do so, and had to leave the dog behind.

Other members in the WeChat group stated that the neighbourhood committee had allegedly said that the dogs owners no longer wanted their dog, and others said that no dogs were allowed to roam freely within the community premises.

Shanghai’s Pudong has been in lockdown since March 28. The lockdowns in the city have been extended due to the rising Covid-19 numbers, and many people throughout the city are struggling to get groceries and supplies delivered, including vegetables, medicine, and pet food. Besides complaints about food deliveries and availability of medicine, there has also been online worry and anger over health services being inadequate and people needing urgent care not getting the help they need.

“Didn’t they say early on that pets can’t spread the virus?” one Weibo commenter wondered. A poster showing a cat saying “I can’t transmit covid19, please don’t abandon or hurt me” has been circulating on social media for months, issued by Chinese state media outlet People’s Daily. The Shanghai Center for Disease Prevention and Control previously stated it is unlikely for small pets to get Covid19, and that they therefore should not need to be screened.

“They were still promoting how you could isolate together with your pet last year – what changed?” one person asked. By Wednesday night, local time, a video of the Shanghai dog killing incident had received over 224,000 likes, 77,000 shares and nearly 20,000 comments on Weibo.

“I’m so furious it’s making me cry,” some people in the comment section write: “This is Shanghai? What on earth are they doing?!”

Main Source: WhatsonWeibo by Manya Koetse