CHINESE officials have been rounding up beloved pets family by family and executing them to stop the spread of the coronavirus, according to animal activists.
The World Health Organization has said there is no evidence to suggest the virus is being transmitted to pets.
Fears over pets spreading the virus circulated last month after a Chinese health expert claimed animals needed to be quarantined.
Community officers the southwestern Sichuan Province in China reportedly knocked on doors and ordered residents to give up their pets before slaughtering them.
Distressing video shared by Nanchong Missing Animal Aid Group shows a number of bloodied dogs, believed to be dead, lying in the back of the truck.
The group shared the video on its account on the Chinese microblogging site Weibo and claimed the dogs belonged to the families in the Qianqiubang villages.
In another video, shared by an animal activist, one officer is seen wearing a face mask and touching lifeless dog.
The activist condemmed the video on Weibo saying: “”top slaughtering pets in the midst of the epidemic. Enforce law in a civilised way.”
Animal rights group PETA told officials to not use the outbreak “an excuse to abuse animals”.
The group’s spokesperson told MailOnline: “Violent acts like this one don’t address the public health problems. They only cause more conflicts in society.”
It comes as last month a village in Hebei – nine hours drive north of virus ground zero in Wuhan – has told families to “deal with” their pets within five days or else officials will “handle” them, the Mail Online reports.
Another local authority in Shaanxi urged residents to “consider the overall situation” and to dispose of their pets, it has been reported.
There have also been reports of pet owners chucking their cats and dogs out of towerblocks following the unproven claims the virus being passed on by animals.
In other parts of China, owners are making their pets wear bizarre makeshift masks.
