These pictures claim to show a camel deliberately mutilated to get people to feel sympathetic and donate more money, apparently towards its upkeep.
The camel and two beggars were photographed in the city of Fuzhou, Fujian province, south-east China, where police confirmed mutilating animals was now the new trend.
Mutilating people, they said, no longer seemed to gather as many generous donations, with people more often making a wide berth around limbless beggars.
Police were unable to take any action against the gang as they hadn't broken the law. The camel has been used for begging since at least April and, according to local media, brings in lots of cash.
The men claimed that the camel was a wild camel that they had rescued after it had been run over by a train. They denied mutilating it, saying they had taken it upon themselves to care for it and needed the money for food.
But police say the story is a sham and it's almost certain the men or their contacts hacked off the camel's hooves themselves.
With just 600 wild camels left in north-west China's Gobi desert, and 800 in the deserts of Mongolia, their survival in the world is seriously at risk and they are supposedly strictly protected.
In practice though there is rarely any action against people who trap the animals, mainly because of the difficulty in proving they are not domestic animals.
The mutilation of this camel is the latest argument by animal rights activists for China to change the law on the torture of animals, in a country where cruelty to animals is not illegal.
Animal rights campaigner Xiong Kung said: 'You can see that the animal was obviously mutilated some time ago because the wounds are now healed.
'My information is that they get a large amount of money every day from people shocked by what they see and in effect they are rewarding these criminals for torturing the animal in the first place.
'But when police turn up all they can do is maybe move them on or fine them for begging, but nothing else. And that will remain the case until we get laws protecting animal rights.'
Music : Unpromised by Kevin MacLeod
Source : Mirror , DailyMail
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