Animal rights activists in Foshan, Guangdong Province on Tuesday launched a protest against a college student after a viral video showed him abusing cats with a slingshot and a red-hot soldering iron.
Pictures that were widely shared online showed activists protesting in front of the Guangdong University of Finance and Economics (Foshan campus), holding banners that read "respect life and anti-abuse" and featured graphic photos of the injured cat. Witnesses said that protesters also tussled with the school's security guards, The Beijing News reported Wednesday.
Previous reports said that the student was identified as a sophomore by the university, after the gut-wrenching video showed him using a slingshot to shoot at the cat's eyes, burning its body with a soldering iron, and cutting its arms and legs with an electric saw.
However, the incident escalated after it was revealed by the student's classmates and other sources that he was allegedly still planning to abuse animals and post the videos to an online group of abusers, despite the university announcing that the student had left the school on its Sina Weibo account on September 30. The school's statement said that it had seriously criticized him and wished for him to have a second chance to "atone for his crime."
An anonymous animal rights activist told the newspaper that "we advocate equality and not abusing animals. The student claimed that he has another white cat and we hope to seize it and take care of it."
Many students from the university said the activists had over reacted and that publishing the student's photo and videos was "inappropriate."
Insiders said that some of those who find sadistic fun in abusing animals release videos on online chat groups in which abusers goad each other into hurting animals in increasingly violent ways.
