China has no national animal cruelty law, a gap that local police in Chongqing have repeatedly cited to avoid acting on complaints against a man accused of luring pets from their owners under false pretenses and torturing them to death. When residents took to the streets demanding legislative change, police deployed in force against the protesters.
According to the BBC, a man in China’s southwestern city of Chongqing who became notorious on social media for gorging on free samples at a Sam’s Club warehouse store has been accused of something far darker: systematically deceiving pet owners into surrendering their animals, then torturing and killing them, and allegedly selling footage of the abuse on overseas websites for profit.
The case has sparked three consecutive days of street protests, a violent police dispersal, the detention of dozens of demonstrators, and a wave of online commentary comparing the authorities’ response to the Tiananmen Square massacre of June 4, 1989. As of the early hours of June 10, protests were still ongoing.
Man accused of posing as pet adopter to obtain and torture animals
The man at the center of the case, identified by surname Li and widely known online by the nickname “Packing Bro” (打包哥), first attracted public attention for his habit of aggressively eating free samples and demanding to-go boxes at a Sam’s Club outlet in Chongqing.
According to reporting by Sing Tao Daily, a Hong Kong newspaper, Li is accused of posing online as a caring woman seeking to adopt pets, then collecting the animals and subjecting them to extreme violence. Among the documented cases: a white female dog allegedly beaten to death on June 4; a puppy named “Dongdong” discovered with its teeth sawed off, its tail severed, multiple fractures, and severe head swelling, barely alive; and a puppy named “Xingxing,” which animal volunteers witnessed Li beating with a metal dog clamp as recently as March. Li reportedly told bystanders: “This is my dog. I can kill it if I want. You can’t stop me. I’m a rebel.” Volunteers who offered to buy the dog and take it away were refused. Xingxing was later tortured to death.
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X user “肌肉猫Elva” documented the cases on June 9, noting that multiple other puppies and kittens had disappeared or died, and that neighbors had filed police reports on prior occasions. Each time, officers declined to act, citing the absence of any animal protection law in China. One officer reportedly told complainants: “Killing a dog isn’t illegal. Why don’t you go deal with the dog meat festival in Yulin?”
Three days of protests end in police crackdown and mass detentions
The case broke publicly on June 4, and by June 7 approximately 100 residents had gathered outside Li’s apartment complex in Chongqing’s Jiangbei district. Protesters carried banners reading “Beware of adoption fraud; resist animal abuse” and called on authorities to pass animal protection legislation.
The crowd grew to hundreds by June 8, according to the BBC. Demonstrators brought their own supplies, set up mobile charging stations, and maintained an overnight vigil. The head of the local Dashiba police station acknowledged on June 8 that authorities had opened a formal investigation and taken unspecified “compulsory measures” against Li.
On June 9, large numbers of police vehicles and officers surrounded the apartment complex. Footage circulating on social media showed protesters injured and taken away by ambulance, others collapsed on the ground, and dozens forcibly detained. By late that night, crowds were still gathered outside, chanting “Release them!”
Police targeted protesters while the accused remained free
Hong Kong 01, a news outlet that obtained video from animal volunteers at the scene, reported that many of those detained were young people who had seen the footage online and gone to the protest spontaneously, with no prior connection to the animal rights community.
Animal volunteer “Xiao Wan” told Hong Kong 01 that the original demands had been modest: stop the fraudulent adoption scheme, and rescue any animals still held by Li. “But their anger got no response,” she said. “The Chongqing police forced them into the streets, step by step.”
A volunteer at the scene was quoted as saying, through tears: “These are someone’s children. They went out to get a fair outcome for a dog. Is this how they deserve to be treated?”
From the crowd on June 9, one chant cut through, with protesters heard calling out that for every hundred people beaten, five thousand would follow.
Protesters are demanding three specific measures: a national anti-animal-cruelty law, stronger legal protections for companion animals, and criminal prosecution of Li.
