In the past two weeks, there has been an increase in cases of pet poisoning. On social media platforms, netizens from multiple cities have posted that their pet dogs were poisoned or even died while they were out.
Where do these poisons, which can be fatal to pets if accidentally ingested or even smelled, come from? Are "dog medicines" placed in public places completely harmless to humans? Are pet owners who poison others' pets exempt from legal responsibility? With these questions in mind, we interviewed pet owners who have been victimized, pharmaceutical experts, and lawyers.
Around 10 a.m. on November 3, in the Jinshazhou area of Baiyun District, Guangzhou, Luo Xin was walking her dog, a little over a year old Corgi, in the riverside green space, as usual. She was accompanied by three other friends she had met while walking their dogs; they were also strolling on the grass with their own small dogs.
Not long after, Luo Xin noticed that the dog was gnawing on chicken bones scattered on the grass. She immediately removed the food from its mouth. She thought that many people usually came to picnic here, so this was probably food scraps left by tourists. She didn't think too much about poisoning and therefore didn't immediately clean the dog's intestines.
At 4:45 PM, Luo Xin saw on the monitor that the corgi started circling in its cage, desperately trying to break free. It then became incontinent, foaming at the mouth and spewing bile. Its limbs twitched uncontrollably as if swimming, and its head was stretched straight out. When it arrived at the hospital, the corgi was already stiff, and the doctor told her there was no point in trying to save it.
Soon after, the other three dogs traveling with the group that day also developed symptoms of poisoning. Veterinary tests revealed that the most abundant toxin was organophosphates, a common component in pesticides. Luo Xin then went to the street office in the area to inquire whether any disinfection work had been carried out on the green space recently, but was told no.
Not far from the incident site are two primary schools and a park, and pedestrians frequently pass through the green spaces. After ruling out the possibility of street disinfection, Luo Xin immediately called the police, determined to find the potential poisoner. Since the incident, she has continuously heard tragic news from dog-loving groups and social media, with the number of poisoning locations marked on dog-loving maps only increasing. Some dog-loving friends said that those marked locations were verified with the lives of countless dogs.
On November 17, the Guangdong Provincial Pet Industry Association announced that preliminary statistics show more than 40 pet dogs have died from suspected poisoning, mainly around November 8. Cases have been reported in all districts of Guangzhou except Huadu and Conghua, with Baiyun, Haizhu, and Panyu districts reporting the highest number of cases.
Several pet owners told New Weekly that the conflict between humans and pets has a long history, and dog poisoning is nothing new; it has existed for many years. However, the scale of this incident is astonishing. Besides Guangzhou, reports of pet dog poisoning have also surfaced recently in Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Nanning.
The case was not filed three times.
The reason is that the circumstances of the crime are relatively minor.
Eight years ago, Mai Zi's family got a Samoyed named B-zai. Mai Zi's mother always treated B-zai like the third child in the family. Mai Zi and the dog usually lived together in the city, walking the dog downstairs in the community every day. This year, during the Qingming Festival, her brother took B-zai back to their self-built house in the suburban village, planning to take care of it together with his mother for a while.
On the evening of April 4th, around 8 PM, Mai Zi's mother took her dog out for a walk. Less than three minutes later, she noticed that B Zai had accidentally chewed on a piece of pork bone that had fallen to the ground, and she immediately took him home. Around 11 PM, the puppy started vomiting, and the family rushed him to the emergency room.
On the way to the hospital, B-zai unusually avoided its family, refusing to go up the hospital steps and trying to escape. Mai Zi seemed to sense the puppy's emotions, "It was afraid of hurting us." Having raised it for so many years, she roughly knew what the puppy was trying to express. Before leaving, B-zai barked at her a few times, but she didn't understand. For more than half a year, she would deliberately avoid that road every time she came home, afraid to think about the scene before the dog left that night.
After bringing B-zai's body home, Mai held it and cried for a whole day, immersed in grief and almost losing her mind. Only when the body began to swell and bleed from its seven orifices did she finally have the heart to send it for cremation.
The veterinarian diagnosed the dog with poisoning. Mai reported the incident to the police the following day, but the case was not taken seriously. She repeatedly urged the police to expedite the investigation, but more than half a month has passed with no progress.
So she started looking for clues herself. She went to the village security to check the surveillance footage and identified the suspected poisoner's movements before the incident; from the packaging paper left at the scene, she found residual poison and a neighbor's fingerprints. The surveillance video showed that the person deliberately took a long detour when placing the poison.
It was a neighbor who poisoned her—something Mai Zi hadn't expected. The middle-aged man, around 60 years old, had been Mai Zi's neighbor for over 20 years; he had even visited her home on the day of the incident.
The man signed a mediation agreement issued by the police and admitted that he had indeed poisoned the dog at the scene of the crime, but he claimed that he did so to "poison rats" and that he had no intention of poisoning the dog.
Mai Zi refused to sign the mediation agreement, insisting on filing a case on charges of releasing hazardous substances in a public place and intentionally damaging other people's property. She hoped the police would investigate the composition and source of the poison, saying, "I don't even know this. As an ordinary citizen, how am I supposed to see what kind of medicine he bought on his phone?"
On April 25, Mai Zi received a notice of non-acceptance of the case. She was also told by the police that she could go to a veterinary hospital for a pet valuation, specifically the market value of a Samoyed, for mediation purposes. Dissatisfied, she subsequently submitted an application to have the case filed. On May 28, she received another notice of non-acceptance of the case. On June 30, her application was rejected for the third time.
Mai Zi stated that the reason for not filing a case was that "the circumstances of the crime were relatively minor." She found this reason unacceptable.
A few days ago, Mai Zi sought help from the local police station, requesting a detailed explanation of why they refused to file a case. "Why didn't they file a case? What were the criteria for judgment? What are the evidentiary conditions for filing a case? And what specific drug did the so-called rat poisoning agent use?" she wanted answers. The police responded that if it wasn't a criminal case, "if the other party (the poisoner) doesn't say, or says they've forgotten, they (the police) can't do anything."
At that moment, she felt as if she had walked into a dead end. To thoroughly investigate the poison's composition, she first needed to file a criminal case, and the condition for filing a criminal case—currently—was the identification of a dangerous substance. She couldn't understand why finding the poisoner and holding them accountable was so difficult.
Buying and selling "three-step" wax pellets
Where is the line between breaking the law and breaking the law?
The recent public discussion surrounding the death of Eddie, a popular Rottweiler therapy dog, on November 13th, has sparked considerable debate. Eddie had undergone rigorous training to refuse food, and according to a post circulating on social media from the dog's owner, he "didn't even ingest any poison." Many netizens speculate that the possibility of inhalation poison cannot be ruled out, causing concern among numerous pet owners.
It's been circulating online that the Ma Yong River area in Fenghuang New Village, Haizhu District, Guangzhou, is a major hotspot for dog poisoning. I contacted Ms. Ling, who encountered this unfortunate incident in the area at 2 PM on November 8th. She was certain that her dog hadn't been scavenging for food during her walk, only sniffing it. At 8:20 PM, the dog exhibited symptoms of incontinence, vomiting, and convulsions, which the veterinarian described as typical signs of poisoning.
In response, I inquired with several vendors selling dog poison on the platform, and none of them admitted that the poison they sold had the effect of "instantly knocking someone out"; all of them required oral administration.
There are all sorts of dog poisons on the market. I approached a merchant who sold dog poisons on both Douyin and WeChat as a buyer. One of their best-selling products was called "Flat Hair Cream". The merchant claimed that mixing the powder with food would have the same effect as poisoning dogs.
Dr. Li Changqing, a gastroenterologist, told me: "Flat hair powder seems to be a banned pesticide. I remember it from my childhood. It was called Furadan. People in rural areas often got poisoned from using this pesticide because it can be inhaled through the skin and respiratory tract and is very toxic."
This pesticide, which can be inhaled through the skin and respiratory tract, is strictly restricted from production and sale according to national regulations. According to the "List of Drugs and Other Compounds Prohibited for Use in Food Animals" published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on December 27, 2019, Carbofuran is listed as a prohibited drug for use in food animals. This is to further regulate the use of drugs in animal husbandry and ensure the safety of animal-derived food.
Online forums and communities are rife with "experience sharing" on how to poison dogs, including the use of "wax pills." One shop owner selling dog poison told me that these white, strip-shaped wax pills are actually made of cyanide, priced at 90 yuan for 6 pills or 200 yuan for 21 pills, adding that "that's the price now."
When someone inquired about the effectiveness, the shop owner replied, "Just pour out one pill."
Li Changqing explained to me that the toxicity of cyanide is well known. The reason why humans can survive and use oxygen and nutrients to maintain movement and organ function is entirely due to the energy substances produced by a set of chemical reactions in the mitochondria of cells. "But cyanide can precisely block this set of chemical reactions, so even if there is oxygen, human tissues cannot use it. Those organs with high oxygen consumption will quickly fail, such as the brain and heart."
He Zhijuan, a lawyer at Beijing Handing United Law Firm, stated that the unauthorized sale of cyanide constitutes the crime of illegally trading in dangerous substances. "Even simply purchasing dangerous substances like cyanide may constitute a crime."
In 2003, the Zhejiang Provincial Health Supervision Institute published an article titled "Analysis and Reflection on a Case of Cyanide-Containing Dog Meat." The article pointed out that because "poisoning dogs is low-cost, convenient, and doesn't alert dog owners," hunters often use cyanide, which causes rapid death to humans and livestock. Driven by profit, some areas have seen the emergence of people specializing in "poisoning dogs." The article also stated that consuming cyanide-contaminated dog meat poses a serious threat to human health, and that ingesting approximately 0.1 grams of cyanide can be fatal to a human.
According to relevant case precedents found on the China Judgments Online website, the key to conviction in pet dog poisoning cases lies in determining whether the act endangers public safety. Lawyer He Zhijuan stated, "Poisoning in public places such as residential areas and parks may result in accidental poisoning of human food or its ingestion. This could constitute the crime of releasing dangerous substances because it endangers the personal and property safety of unspecified individuals, which is public safety."
A seller on the platform was selling isoniazid. When someone asked, "Is this effective for dogs?" and "How many grams is appropriate?", the seller replied, "Literature reviews indicate it is toxic to animals."
Lawyer He Zhijuan believes that the difficulty in convicting people in these types of criminal cases lies in "how to identify dangerous substances." For example, isoniazid, the widely discussed "miracle drug for poisoning dogs," is mainly used in medicine to treat tuberculosis and is considered by many to be "harmless to the human body." He Zhijuan stated that if the drug used is isoniazid, it may not constitute the crime of endangering public safety by dangerous means, "but if the amount of isoniazid reaches a certain level, it may also have an impact on the human body."
Regarding the harmful effects of isoniazid, Li Changqing explained: "Isoniazid works by inhibiting the cell wall synthesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, thereby killing the bacteria. This process interferes with the metabolism of vitamin B6. High doses can lead to vitamin B6 deficiency, resulting in symptoms such as numbness, tingling, and burning sensations in the limbs. In some cases, it may cause liver damage. Dogs lack the enzyme to metabolize isoniazid, so its toxicity is even greater."
Acknowledge the existence of pets.
Instead of trying to "erasure" them
Mai Zi said that after the poisoning was discovered, her neighbors lit incense and burned paper money in the corner of her house. "This behavior should be considered a curse on my family," she said. She also reported the incident to the police.
Having lived next door to each other for over 20 years, Mai Zi felt that although her neighbor exhibited "minor evils" in some trivial matters, such as refusing to pay for things when buying things from acquaintances, she never imagined that he would commit such a heinous act. "Perhaps the dog's life is nothing to him, and he might even feel pleasure from it."
The lack of respect for dogs' right to life is not a new problem. Following a dog attack in Chengdu on October 16, 2023, many hateful comments about dogs appeared online. Around the same time, Xiao'ou, a resident of a community in Guangzhou, also experienced her pet dog being poisoned; she had never heard of anyone poisoning dogs in her community before.
On the evening of October 17th last year, Xiao'ou was walking her dog downstairs in her apartment complex when the dog died from poisoning in the early hours of the morning. Police investigation revealed that surveillance footage showed strange chunks of meat in the underground parking garage, which tested positive for rodenticide. However, police responded that this result could not be linked to the death of Xiao'ou's pet dog, and the case has remained unresolved ever since.
A year has passed, and Xiao'ou has moved to another city. According to residents of the building next to hers in the original community, many pet dogs have recently died from poisoning. The police officer who previously handled her case recently informed her that another suspected poisoning case has occurred in the community, and that they have reported her old case, which had been shelved for several months, to their superiors.
Recently, Vicky, who just moved to Europe this year, posted on social media that the recent surge in pet dog poisoning incidents seemed to bring her back to her past. She recalled living in Shenzhen and feeling deeply uneasy every time she walked her dog. To prevent her dog from accidentally ingesting poison, she chose to keep the dog on a short leash, avoid using her phone, and focus all her attention on her dog. Especially during the peak season at the end of the year, she would deliberately avoid walking her dog on lawns. She said, "Having owned a dog for five years, except when I'm at home, I've almost never been able to truly relax."
Vicky mentioned that the threshold for pet ownership in China is too low, and she also notices information about uncivilized dog ownership causing tension in neighborhood relations. She said that sometimes, as a scientific and civilized dog owner, she hates those uncivilized dog owners more than those who don't own dogs, "because the trouble or harm they cause to others eventually breeds hatred of dogs, and even escalates to poisoning dogs—they make all dog owners suffer the consequences."
“If your dog is not on a leash or injures someone, the owner should indeed be punished. I think this is one way to resolve conflicts,” she said. However, the current state of dog management, whether it's the scientific management of pet and stray dogs, the balance between animal welfare and residents' rights, or legal means of resolving conflicts between humans and pets, still has many areas that urgently need improvement.
From a practical perspective, one of the reasons given by poisoners is the inadequate dog management system, but this cannot justify poisoning, nor can the anti-dog sentiment of some individuals be used as an excuse for breaking the law. Vicky said that a more reasonable dog management system requires the participation and implementation of the entire society. "Unless the country one day explicitly bans everyone from keeping dogs, out of respect for others and for your own safety, you should learn some knowledge about dogs."
Undoubtedly, pitting humans against their pets is not helpful in addressing the externalities of dog ownership in cities. The "2023-2024 China Pet Industry White Paper" shows that the number of pet dogs reached 51.75 million in 2023. Pet dogs and urban spaces are highly integrated, a fact that cannot be ignored. The key to solving the problem is not retaliation, indifference, or silencing all dogs' barking. On the contrary, we must recognize the importance of the human-pet relationship in human life; it is almost as old as human civilization itself, and is an integral part of modern urban life.
“Whether you own a dog or not, you should know that this is a society where people and pets live together,” Vicky said.
