Outrage is mounting against a Chinese woman who beheaded a kitten in her bathroom and shared pictures on social media.

The woman, identified as Li Pingping, is a former marketing consultant at Chengzi Culture Communication Co., in Huizhou, Guangdong province. She beheaded the cat in her bathroom Friday night and later posted photos on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, Xinhua reports.

The photos went viral with many calling the woman "insane" and "out of her mind." In response, Pingping said she took her anger out on the cat after her father was caught in an extramarital affair. She told users to “back off” and stop judging her but later deleted her post. She apologized in an open letter Monday, saying she was under the influence of alcohol when she abused the kitten. The letter drew more than 60,000 comments.

“Brutally dismembering a poor kitten in your bathroom, then posting the photos online?” one Weibo user wrote on Tuesday. “The cruelty is just beyond imagination.”

While China does not have laws to protect non-endangered animals, an animal rights group is growing and reports of animal abuse draw public attention.

Last week, a British resident of Beijing was walking his dog when city management official and four others beat the animal to death because the man lacked proper registration papers for it, The Beijinger magazine reported.

Police told the man “without the registration documents, there was no recourse for him”, the magazine said.

The abuse may stem from an individual’s incapacity to have a proper outlet to vent their emotions, Sun Daqiang, a professor of psychology at Beijing Normal University, told China Daily.

"A good number of people think that as long as they don't attack human beings, everything else is fine, which leads to frequent animal abuse cases," Sun said, adding it is necessary to investigate the psychological factors that contribute to such brutality.

China