Health Workers Fatally Beat Corgi With Iron Rod; Quarantined Owner Watches Attack Via CCTV

Two health workers have been caught on camera while breaking into a COVID-positive woman's house and fatally beating her pet Corgi dog with an iron rod. The pet owner, who was forced to quarantine in a local hotel, had to watch the attack through her home security CCTV camera.

The incident, which took place in Jiangxi province in eastern China, came to light after the pet owner wrote about it on Weibo, a Chinese microblogging platform, reported South China Morning Post.

Following the revelation, a public outburst prompted local authorities to issue a formal apology to the woman.

"The workers have been reprimanded and moved to other posts, apologies have been made to the pet owner," a government official said, according to the outlet.

According to the woman, everyone in their residential compound was told to quarantine in a local hotel without their pets. She reportedly confirmed with community staff several times that her dog would not be taken away or killed since China had reported several incidents of coronavirus-related pet-killing incidents under Beijing's strict zero case strategy.

However, that afternoon, she saw workers break into her house and beat her dog with an iron rod through her home security CCTV camera.

"The dog tried to avoid the beating and fled into the bedroom, and therefore it wasn't recorded by surveillance camera, but (I) could hear faint wails. A few minutes later, they said they've dealt with it and would take it away, holding a yellow plastic bag in their hands," her Weibo post, which has since been taken down, narrated as per CNN.

"Even now I don't know whether my dog is alive or dead, and where it has been taken," she added.

However, authorities reportedly confirmed the dog had been killed as part of a plan to "thoroughly disinfect" homes.

It wasn't the first time a pet was killed in the country after its owner was told to quarantine. According to BBC News, cats owned by a Chengdu resident were killed earlier this month after testing positive for COVID-19.

In September, a total of three cats in Harbin, which is located in the province of Heilongjiang, were reportedly put down while their owner was under quarantine, even though the pets hadn't tested positive for the virus.