The owner of a dog with more than 1.5 million followers has alleged the pet was stolen and later sold to a restaurant.
Chutou has around 1.58 million followers on Douyin, a Chinese social media platform, according to Asia One.
The border collie belongs to Guo, a travel influencer from Henan province in China, who often shared trips around the country with the dog.
However, on May 11 Guo reportedly travelled without Chutou, leaving the dog at home in the care of his father, per the South China Morning Post.
While Guo was away, his father discovered Chutou was missing. CCTV footage reportedly showed two people grabbing the dog before riding away on an electric bike.
After being told what happened, Guo returned home and began trying to locate Chutou.
On May 14, Guo reportedly learned Chutou had been sold on for the equivalent of roughly $26. Reporting cited by the South China Morning Post also claimed the dog was subsequently sold again, before being slaughtered and eaten.
Dog meat consumption is not widely common in China and has been declining, but it still occurs in some places. Slaughtering dogs remains legal across much of mainland China, despite 2020 changes that removed dogs from the country’s official list of animals considered livestock.
There is no nationwide ban on eating dogs, though some cities — including Zhuhai and Shenzhen — have outlawed the consumption of dogs and cats.
Guo said that when he confronted a staff member at the restaurant where he believed Chutou had been taken, the employee, described as a butcher, told him the remains were ‘thrown in the rubbish long ago’.
The person believed to be responsible for the theft reportedly showed no remorse, telling Guo: “The dog is dead, so stop making a fuss”, and also claiming they ‘did not break the law.’
As it stands, there are no specific animal protection laws for pets at a national level, and the alleged incident was handled as a property theft case, according to reporting from The Straits Times.
Lawyer Du Wei told the South China Morning Post that criminal charges can generally only be pursued if the value of the stolen property exceeds 2,000 yuan, which is about $295.
He also noted it could be challenging to establish Chutou’s monetary value, given the dog’s status as both a well-known social media animal and a companion pet.
Guo has continued posting about Chutou and wrote in a May 31 update that he intends to ‘pursue the matter legally’.