2 men arrested in HK over video of another dog in washing machine
PUBLISHED ONSeptember 20, 2014 9:25 AM
Two men in Hong Kong have been arrested for suspected animal abuse after a YouTube video showing a man placing a dog inside a washing machine went viral, Apple Daily reported.
The Hong Kong-based tabloid said that the suspects, identified only by their surnames Leung and Wong, are aged 38 and 22 respectively.
They were arrested on Friday morning at their apartment in Mongkok after a month of investigations following a complaint filed by Hong Kong's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The YouTube video was uploaded on July 28 by user Up Back.
It shows a man, whose face cannot be seen in the video, carrying a brown toy poodle and placing it in a top-load washing machine.
A female voice behind the camera can be heard asking the man in Cantonese what he is doing, to which the man replies: "I'm giving it a shower."
As he closes the lid, the woman asks: "Are you kidding me?"
The man then appears to press the buttons on the washing machine.
At this point, the woman shrieks: "Are you really going to do it? Have you gone crazy? You idiot!"
The 21-second clip ends without showing whether the washing machine was indeed turned on.
According to Apple Daily, the police found a brown toy poodle in the suspects' Mongkok flat that did not seem to be injured.
Late last month, a Facebook user named Jacky Lo uploaded photos of a white dog in a washing machine. The man residing in Hong Kong said he was showing "a super quick way to bathe a doggy".
AFP quoted police as saying that an animal cruelty investigation was launched into the incident, but that no arrests were made.
huizhen@sph.com.sg