Bunny-crushing videos stir Chinese online anger
Bunny-crushing videos stir Chinese online anger
In the widely circulated videos, several smiling women are seen in turn cuddling and playing with small bunnies just before crushing them as other giggling girls look on.
In one scene, a young woman places a bunny on a table before covering it with a plate of glass and sitting on it for about a minute. She then lifts the glass up to reveal the lifeless bunny, blood oozing from its snout.
Another of the girls dispatches one of the rodents by crushing it under her high heels.
The videos have sparked a heated response from web-users, who launched what is known in China as a "flesh search" -- an effort to reveal the girls' true identities.
"It is hard to imagine someone could be so perverted," said one chatroom entry on the popular portal NetEase.
"Flesh-search them! Uncover these rabbit abuse women and spit on them," said another.
Such online vigilantism has been effective in the past in exposing malfeasance by corrupt businessmen, officials, and others.
The searches have revealed that a user group of animal-crushing enthusiasts was organising and financing the videos, according to media reports.
A purported apology by one of the girls was circulated online this week, but many critics dismissed it as unauthentic and a bid by the fetish group to tamp down the outrage.
China Radio International quoted one girl identified as Huang Xiaoxiao as saying she had been paid to do several videos.
Payment starts at 100 yuan (about 15 dollars) for crushing fruit, 200-300 yuan for "other small animals" and up to 400 yuan for rabbits, she was quoted saying.
China's censors have in recent years carried out a much-publicised crackdown on what they say is a proliferation of porn and other vulgar online content.
China has the world's largest number of Internet users, with 420 million according to the most recent Chinese count.

Regards,
Jing Wen And Xin Yue