Thaindian News

Shanghai, Feb 16 (IANS) A video has been posted on Chinese websites that shows a man using a knife to skin a golden retriever dog on a busy street in Shanghai, which has ignited calls for appropriate laws to protect animals.The five-minute video was uploaded on the ipai.kankanews.com website Tuesday by a woman who said she came across the scene in Hongkou district, the Shanghai Daily reported.

The clip shows a man cutting the skin off the dog, which was hanging from a tree by a wire tied around its neck. The fur had been removed from the animal’s head and upper torso.

The woman who took the video - named online as Shuqin - said in a message: “I was totally stunned and speechless at the scene.”

The video was reposted thousands of times on t.sina.com.cn, one of China’s Twitter-like microblog services, and drew widespread condemnation.

Many web users have called on authorities to introduce animal protection laws in an effort to halt practices such as the one in the video.

The district urban management team said the slaughter could have been done by a member of one of the eateries on the street. Dog meat is traditionally popular in winter and some restaurants are believed to be trading at low prices with dealers who capture stray animals.