Blocked by censors, China's animal lovers take fight against abuse offline and overseas

Image source, Supplied Image caption, From Taiwan to the US, activists are lobbying for China to pass laws against animal cruelty

When videos showing the horrific killing of a stray dog and her puppies sparked outrage on the Chinese internet in June, Beijing's censorship machine kicked into action.

But what was unusual this time was that it pitted the shocked and angry voices against authorities who said they were concerned about the four boys involved, all of them younger than 14.

China's Communist Party regime tightly controls media and the internet to suppress criticism of the state and to manage public anger. But in this case authorities cited the age of the boys as they urged people to withhold their comments and scrubbed social media posts about the incident.

"We urge the public not to disseminate related information, to reject cyberbullying, and to work together to create a good environment for the growth of minors," reads an official statement.

But the restrictions only seemed to spur the outcry. China's animal lovers have now taken their fight offline and abroad, even putting up billboards in New York to drum up support.

In China, posts about the incident are still drawing thousands of comments across social media, three weeks after the incident. There is shock, anger and sorrow, as well as demands for laws against animal cruelty, which China currently does not have.

Disturbing footage showing the boys in the city of Jieyang, Guangdong province, hitting three puppies with sticks before setting their mother on fire emerged online at the end of June. The boys were seen laughing as the dog, named Wang Wang, burned.

Jieyang authorities said last month that the boys would not face criminal charges and would instead be sent to a "specialised school", but did not elaborate.

Some reports suggest the boys filmed themselves and uploaded the video online, but police have not commented on that. Censors have tried to block the video to protect the boys' identity, although some people argue that it should stay.

Their identities have not been revealed, but snippets of the video with their faces visible continue to circulate online. There are also unverified posts claiming to be close-ups of the boys' faces, raising the risk of other children being wrongly identified.