Chinese police detain man after dog torture videos spark outrage

Chinese authorities have detained a man who has caused public outrage for torturing dogs and filming the abuse to sell the videos online.

The man allegedly posed as a keen "adopter" of animals but ended up abusing several cats and dogs he took in.

His actions came to light after a friend of a woman who put her puppies up for adoption shared her experience online. More than 100 protesters gathered outside the man's home in the south-western city of Chongqing early this week.

Police have not disclosed what offence the man was being investigated for. Animal cruelty is not punishable by law in China. However, there has been growing awareness of animal welfare issues in recent years.

The man, whose goes by the surname Li, put up an advertisement on Chinese social media platform Douyin early this month, saying he wanted to adopt dogs for free.

He claimed that his two children "absolutely loved puppies", according to local media reports.

On Sunday, volunteers from an animal rights group discovered one of the adopted puppies abandoned in the stairwell of Li's housing block with a broken limb, a severed tail, and a swollen head, the reports say.

Videos posted online show more than 100 people gathered outside his home, some of them holding posters in protest.

"Those who abuse animals are merely practising cruelty towards humans!" one of them read.

Another said: "Stop animal abuse. We strongly call for laws against animal cruelty."

Several clips show police officers dragging protesters away from the premises, while some protesters say they were banned from taking photographs and circulating them online.

People have called for a severe penalty following news of the man's detention.

"This is appalling. I'm all for severe punishment!" read a comment on the Chinese social media platform Weibo.