Stolen and Slaughtered: Justice for Chutou

A beloved dog with more than a million followers on Chinese social media was abducted, sold to a restaurant, and slaughtered for meat. The case of "Chutou" has forced a painful question back into the open in China: why is there still no law to protect dogs and cats from this?

Chutou belonged to a man surnamed Guo, who had left the dog in his parents' care while he was away. Chutou went missing after Mr. Guo's father brought him along during farm work.

Mr. Guo offered a reward of 5,000 CNY (about $740) and reviewed security-camera footage, which captured the moment Chutou was taken away by an unknown man and woman on an electric scooter.

Police later identified the abductors and found that Chutou had been resold for just 180 CNY (about $26.50). When Mr. Guo reached the dog-meat dealer who had bought him, he was told the dog had "already been resold to another dealer and processed for meat."

The dealer's words were as cold as the act: "I didn't even want to buy him for 180 CNY. That dog's meat was too fatty." Chutou had lived with Mr. Guo as a member of the family for eight years.

Outraged, Mr. Guo refused a private settlement and is determined to pursue legal action. The case has triggered a major public outcry across China, reigniting questions about the legal status of pets and the absence of animal-welfare legislation — and pushing the police to open a full investigation.

It is the same pattern we documented in the detention of Li Meng and in the Chongqing protests: cruelty meets, at most, a fine, while the people who expose it carry the burden of forcing any response at all. Until China has a real anti-cruelty law, the cycle repeats.

After learning about Chutou, our team did not want to look away with a simple "how cruel." Postcards were written and mailed to the Chinese government, to the mayor of Yulin (host of the dog-meat festival), and to the mayor of Shangqiu City in Henan Province, where the incident happened.

Please join the postcard campaign — handwritten messages are welcome. The mailing addresses are shown in the linked post, and full details are here: https://x.gd/JjMkf (#justiceforchutou).

Reporting and English translation: Yosee Takahashi (@yosee.takahashi), Feline Guardians Japan (@feline_guardians_japan). Postcard action organized by @xx_rkf_xx. This article is based on our report published on Instagram in June 2026.