A dog with more than 1.5 million followers on social media was stolen and sold to a meat restaurant, his owner claims. The case caused a lot of attention on Chinese social networks.
Chutou, a Border Collie, was the companion of travel influencer Guo from China’s Henan province, who regularly posted their adventures together on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, where the dog has amassed 1.58 million followers.
On May 11, Guo went on a trip alone, leaving Chutou in the care of his father. Soon, the father noticed that the dog was missing, and surveillance footage revealed two people taking the dog away on an electric bicycle. As soon as he found out about the theft, Guo returned home and started a search.
A few days later, on May 14, he learned that Chutou had been sold for about $27, then resold and allegedly slaughtered and eaten. Guo says he found the restaurant where the dog had been taken, but the butcher told him the remains had been “trashed a long time ago”. The person believed to be one of the thieves has not apologised. “The dog is dead, stop making a fuss,” she told the owner, claiming that “they didn’t break the law.”
Eating dog meat is not widespread in China and the practice is on the decline, although it still occurs. Dog slaughter remains legal in most of the country’s mainland, despite dogs being removed from the official list of livestock in 2020. Some cities, such as Zhuhai and Shenzhen, have still banned the consumption of dog and cat meat.
Since there are no pet protection laws in China, stealing a Chutou is treated as theft of property. Lawyer Du Wei explained that criminal charges can only be filed if the value of the stolen property exceeds 2,000 yuan, which is about $295, and that proving the dog’s true financial value, due to its popularity on the Internet and its status as a pet, could be extremely difficult.
Guo announced in a post on May 31 that he intends to “legally prosecute the case to the end.”
