For just US$5, Chinese internet users can openly purchase 70 gigabytes of videos depicting cats being tortured, according to reports in local media that revealed the growth of a horrific industry of animal abuse — with some cases involving children carrying out the savage acts in a presumed attempt to avoid heavy penalties.

Buyers can even place custom orders, according to media outlet The Paper. Some vendors have bragged about netting 40,000 yuan (US$6,000) a month in sales, it said.

Some smaller accounts on Chinese social media sell homemade clips of cat torture at anywhere between a few dozen and a few hundred yuan. Larger accounts have numerous clips and operate a membership system, the report said.

People hoping to join an animal torture group had to “prove themselves” by torturing cats on camera, and must upload videos frequently — a bid to prevent infiltration by animal rights activists and law enforcement.

Animal torture videos on the Chinese internet were first reported on in 2014 by the media and activists. At the time, an unknown group tortured cats before throwing them off overpasses.

China’s animal protection laws are mostly focused on preserving endangered species, instead of cats, dogs and other pets. The criminal justice system also tends to be lenient toward underage offenders.

“[People in China] don’t think of torturing and killing animals as a big deal, and since mainland China has no law against it, they have become more blatant,” said the founder of a Hong Kong animal protection group, who gave her name as Jacqueline.

The trend of animal torture videos is escalating in China, and its participants have become younger, she said. While the problem exists worldwide, she said the methods used by Chinese torturers were especially horrific and fatal.

Psychiatrist Chiu Siu-ning said that animal torturers lack empathy and cannot feel others' pain. Chiu said he was worried about a copycat effect, and urged parents to observe their children to ensure they can build an emotional rapport with household pets.

Click here for Chinese version

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play