Chinese woman devotes 700 days studying law to put man who killed her dog to jail

A Chinese woman quit her journalism job to study law for nearly two years so she could put the man who allegedly poisoned her dog behind bars.

Li Yihan claims that her dog, a 13-year-old white West Highland Terrier named Papi, was among 11 pet dogs and several stray cats poisoned in a community in Chaoyang district, Beijing, on Sept. 14, 2022. Papi died after seven hours of suffering.

A 65-year-old man surnamed Zhang, who was arrested and placed in detention, reportedly confessed to using fluoroacetic acid — a highly toxic compound used in rat killers — to poison the animals in retaliation for dogs peeing on his tricycle.

Since then, Li has devoted time to consume legal resources to bring Zhang to justice. She shares updates on her Douyin account, which has garnered over 56,000 followers. She also managed to gather 10 other families, whose pets were also poisoned, into the case.

In January 2023, the prosecution team filed their first case, but the legal proceedings dragged on for over a year, with the final verdict now set for Dec. 17, 2024. Li said she is prepared to file an appeal if the verdict is unsatisfactory.