Chinese man’s grisly online joke about eating endangered species earns him 5 days’ detention
Social media user posted gruesome images of butchered animals in bid to be more popular online
A Chinese man who posted images of butchered animals, mostly rare and endangered species, on social media and joked about how they were being prepared for a Lunar New Year dinner has been given five days’ detention.
The gory pictures that accompanied the message showed a chopped-up crocodile in a bucket, a small shark on a chopping board, a man holding a severed bear’s paw, and a sink laden with assorted dead beasts, including a pangolin.
The images were uploaded to Weibo, China’s Twitter-like service, on Thursday, Lunar New Year’s Eve and the day on which it is traditional for Chinese families to gather for a festive feast. A simple caption read, “Someone’s reunion dinner at home”.
The gruesome post soon went viral online and was spotted by the State Forestry Administration, which then appealed via its Weibo account for help in identifying its source.
Despite their protected status, many of the animals shown in the images are considered delicacies in China and can change hands for large sums of money. They are also associated with the lavish banquets that were once commonplace among corrupt Chinese officials.