‘Hunt him down’: online fury over video of Hong Kong trainer stomping on dog's head
Hong Kong-born man, who once advised city's police dog unit, says videos have been edited and are part of a malicious smear campaign
A high-profile dog trainer – who once advised the Hong Kong police dog unit – has been subjected to an online campaign of vilification after videos emerged of him violently beating dogs under his control.
One three-minute clip showing Felix Ho Fei-yin beating and stomping on a dog during a training a seminar in Tianjin in 2011 has been viewed by thousands on social media and a second on Youku, China’s Youtube, shows him whipping and pulling aggressively on the lead of another working dog.
Since the videos were posted, Hong Kong-born Ho, 40, who is now based in Belgium, has received a barrage of abusive phone calls and emails from horrified strangers threatening to “hunt” him down and “stomp on him” like he stomped on the dog in the video.
When the gentle way doesn’t work, sometimes you just have to ... do what needs to be done in the heat of the moment, or risk going to the hospital
Ho does not deny that the man in the videos is him, but claims the clips were posted by people with an agenda against him within Hong Kong’s canine-loving community and edited to make his actions look worse than they actually were.
However, when the South China Morning Post asked Ho to provide copies of the unedited videos for comparison with those now online, he said: “Unfortunately I don’t have access of the video of the full incident, otherwise I would have given it to you. It was four years ago and this makes it difficult.
“When these dogs are aggressive you have to apply pressure, but I don’t advocate this technique and I don’t treat all dogs like this,” said Ho, adding: “This dog had already bitten its owner several times before I stepped in.”
Warning: Footage may be disturbing