Police beat dog to death, receive death threats

Two police officers in Changsha, Hunan Province have received numerous death threats after video of them beating a leashed golden retriever to death in front of a shocked crowd on Sunday went viral.

The threats range from intimidating text messages to funerary wreaths being sent to the officers’ homes after they were identified in a human flesh search, Changsha police told thepaper.cn.

Authorities have since released surveillance video to the public showing the dog biting at least four people, including a 66-year-old man who reported the attack.

Animal rights activists have been gathering at the site of the beating since Monday to leave flowers and mourn the dog’s death after the video sparked outrage on social media.

The horrifying video shows officers clubbing the already bloodied and whimpering retriever in the head with a long pole on Sunday.

The dog had left tied to a low railing along a sidewalk near a community and was most likely abandoned.

Police officials said the officers were unable to find the owner. “They had no choice but to use a club,” Peng Yong with the Tianxin police public relations department.

Many disagree. “They should have tried to find its owner. Who else would have leashed him there?” said a volunteer with the Changsha Small Animal Protection Association surnamed Duan.