An abused puppy at a sacred site in China ignited widespread online outrage, resulting in rapid adoption and 5 million views. - Photo: SCMP composite/Douyin
BEIJING: The compassionate response to rescue a puppy that was abused at a Buddhist site in northern China has touched millions of people on mainland social media.
Public outrage was sparked after a worshipper posted a video showing a man kicking a puppy multiple times and causing it to roll down the stairs at Mount Wutai.
Mount Wutai is a nationally renowned sacred site for Buddhist Manjusri worship in Shanxi province, attracting millions of visitors every year.
This Unesco World Heritage site features dozens of temples scattered across the mountainous landscape. The puppy was bullied on the steps of the Dailuoding temple, where many worshippers climb the 1,080 stairs, kneeling every three steps in prayer.
Many believe superstitiously that the puppy is a messenger from the deities, as it follows some worshippers climbing the mountain.
People were outraged that no worshipper intervened to help the dog while the man kicked it.
Reports indicated that the man was the puppy’s owner and was attempting to make it go home in an “extreme” manner.
Concerned for the puppy’s well-being, an animal hospital owner, surnamed Cui, from northern China’s Tianjin municipality, drove 400km overnight to the mountain, climbing twice to search for the puppy, which she found on November 12.
Cui paid a stall owner who claimed to be the puppy’s owner 300 yuan (US$42) to take it off the mountain. She noted that the docile canine fell asleep on the journey back to Tianjin as if it sensed it would have a safe and happy future.
Cui initially intended to keep the puppy herself, but a woman from Shenyang in northeastern China contacted her via Douyin, expressing her desire to adopt it.
The woman, Yueyue, stated that the puppy followed her and her mother at Mount Wutai on November 6, and she felt they were “brought together by fate”.
Yueyue travelled to Tianjin to retrieve the puppy on November 15 and named her “Luoyi” - with “luo” derived from the temple’s name and “yi” meaning “converting to Buddhism”.
Yueyue remarked that Luoyi’s tender eyes convinced her that the puppy was an incarnation of the Manjusri bodhisattva.
She promised that she would take good care of Luoyi and said that people “should not hurt animals even if they do not love them”.
“What is the point of pilgrimage if you bully a living creature or ignore the bullying along the way?” one commenter wrote on Douyin.
“It is not only fate but also kindness that brings Luoyi and her new owner together,” another noted.
Some individuals are calling for legislation to prohibit the mistreatment of animals. Currently, there is a lack of comprehensive laws that cover all animal species nationwide.
The only existing national law on animal protection is the Wild Animal Protection Law, adopted in 1988. - South China Morning Post
