Two cases of public dog abuse have drawn outcry, however lawyers say that there are no laws which can be used to punish those who maltreat animals.
A resident of Dongguan, South China's Guangdong Province, surnamed Wang, tried last year to adopt a dog from a local shelter, the Shenzhen Evening News reported on Tuesday.
"He refused to sign the agreement that asks for a deposit and says we will visit his home later," a shelter volunteer named Lijian said. "But he kept asking about adopting a German shepherd in online chat groups, which was weird," he added. shelter then kicked him out of the groups.
Wang eventually bought a dog through the Internet and later shared clips of him abusing the animal on social media. Lijuan and her colleagues saw these videos and asked the police to help them intervene.
In his home, they found the dog was in a poor state, with missing teeth, a swollen head and bleeding legs.
In Weihai, East China's Shandong Province, an SUV was spotted Monday dragging a dog through the streets. The car was stopped by and the driver was confronted by passersby. The dog later died.
Local police said that they took the driver and three passersby to a police station for further investigation.
Pictures and videos showing the confrontation went viral online. Netizens identified the driver as a man surnamed Qi.
Lawyers say neither of these men are likely to face charges.
"The legal response to cruelty in China has been ambiguous and there is no legal punishment but only moral condemnation," Chen Wei, a lawyer at a Shenzhen-based law firm, told the Shenzhen Evening News.
