China's strict policies in combating the COVID-19 pandemic have ignited significant anger among millions on social media, especially after a video surfaced showing health workers euthanizing a pet Corgi. According to CNN, a Chinese woman named Fu, residing in the city of Shangrao in Jiangxi province, was forced to go to a nearby hotel for quarantine after being confirmed as a contact of a COVID-19 patient. However, Fu claimed she was unable to take her pet dog with her to the hotel, despite receiving assurances from the team that would disinfect her home regarding its safety.
In a post that was later deleted, she mentioned that she saw through her phone's surveillance cameras how the dog hid in a room without cameras, but she could hear its screams as it was beaten with sticks. Subsequently, she saw the workers emerge from that room carrying its body in a yellow bag typically used for hazardous waste.
This footage sparked outrage among many Chinese citizens, leading local authorities in Shangrao to state that they had dismissed those workers for acting on their own without consulting their supervisors, though they noted that the dog's killing was part of a local disinfection campaign.
China has imposed strict lockdown measures to contain a surge in the rapidly spreading Delta variant, including the euthanization of pets belonging to those confirmed to have COVID-19, despite research not conclusively proving that the virus can be transmitted from animals to humans, according to critics of these measures and data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This incident is not isolated; it is not the first time Chinese authorities have killed pets as part of stringent COVID-19 measures. In September, three cats in Harbin were euthanized after testing positive for the virus without their owner's consent, as she was quarantined in the hospital following her own COVID-19 diagnosis.
However, not all local governments are strict concerning pets. In January, Shanghai authorities were widely praised for allowing residents to bring their pets into quarantine with them. Meanwhile, the Jiangxi provincial government, where the Corgi was killed, instructed residents not to close their doors before leaving for quarantine, while prevention workers forcibly entered Fu's home in the presence of police.
This action drew a violent response from pet owners and animal advocates, while others considered it a necessary sacrifice for the "greater good" of society, arguing that human lives are more important than animal safety. Conversely, some dissenters questioned how much power the government has seized under the guise of prevention to restrict numerous individual rights and freedoms. Commentators on the social media platform Douban noted, "From the incident of the three euthanized cats to the killing of the dog, things are getting worse." They added, "The debate about 'animal rights' is merely a smokescreen to cover up the core issue of the brutal violation of individual rights, which seems to be a bottomless pit."
