Kitten decapitation sparks online fury in China

A Chinese woman who beheaded a kitten and posted pictures online has provoked a wave of fury from tens of thousands of web users, with some calling her “insane”.
   
Li Pingping, a former marketing consultant in Huizhou in the southern province of Guangdong, bought the kitten earlier this month and decapitated it in her bathroom last week, China Daily reported on Thursday.
   
She then posted photos of the kitten’s body and its severed head on Weibo, setting off outraged reactions.
   

Li deleted the posts but after the online criticism continued for days, she penned an open letter apologising and explaining that she had been drunk and acted out of anger after suspecting her father had been involved in an extramarital affair, China Daily said.

The news of the kitten’s decapitation follows the sacking of an employee at a stray dog shelter in the eastern province of Hangzhou, who caused outrage by brutally killing seven puppies on Monday.

Pictures showing a middle-aged man lifting a newborn puppy into the air before throwing it on to the ground went viral on Weibo and attracted thousands of critical comments.

Li’s letter sparked similar outrage, drawing more than 60,000 comments, with many continuing to berate Li.

“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.”
   
Others suspected that Li may have psychological problems and that her previous postings suggested she may have been considering suicide.