On the night of December 8, 2024, a woman identified by Jiemian News as Ms. Hu saw a dog in a small stray-animal shelter in Beijing's Tongzhou District suddenly run wildly, collapse and die. More dogs died in similar fashion every half hour to an hour, and deaths continued the next day. In total, 13 dogs died and one was saved by a veterinary hospital. Jiemian reported that stomach contents from seven dead dogs tested positive for fluoroacetate poisoning. Police first opened a case for property damage; later, a receipt shown to Ms. Hu said the Tongzhou branch of Beijing police had accepted the case as one involving dangerous methods endangering public safety.

The night in the small shelter

Ms. Hu remembered that it began late on December 8, 2024. One dog in the shelter suddenly ran back and forth in panic, soon collapsed, kicked its legs and lost signs of life. The deaths did not stop with that first dog. Another fell within half an hour to an hour, and more followed.

This was not an ordinary case of illness or disappearance. The next day, dogs were still dying. By the end, 13 dogs were gone and only one was saved by a veterinary hospital. These animals had already been taken off the street into a place meant for shelter and care, yet still could not escape a poison placed by human hands.

Fluoroacetate and the difficulty of evidence

After Ms. Hu called police, several groups of officers came to the scene. Jiemian reported that seven dead dogs were dissected at a veterinary hospital and, at police request, food residue from their stomachs was sent for testing. The result showed fluoroacetate poisoning.

Fluoroacetate is a highly toxic substance, and the report linked it to other pet-poisoning cases. Its appearance in a stray-animal shelter means the danger did not fall only on dogs; it could also spread to people at the scene, volunteers, cleaners and other animals.

The case also showed how hard such incidents are to pursue. Ms. Hu said a neighbor had surveillance footage but refused to let her view it; police later took the footage. When she asked at the police station, she received a case receipt saying the matter had been accepted as endangering public safety by dangerous methods. Public reporting also said the surveillance available to police had not identified the poisoner.

Death in a place meant for care

What makes this case especially hard to accept is that the deaths occurred in a place built to care for stray animals. It should have been a temporary refuge for animals that were injured, abandoned or had nowhere else to go. Instead, for one night, it became a scene of poison and death.

People may disagree about stray-animal numbers, shelter management or neighborhood order. But placing poison before animals that cannot defend themselves crosses a clear line. Those dogs were not part of any human dispute. They were simply alive, waiting for care and gentleness, and died in convulsions and poisoning.

This archive records the pain of those dogs and the public risk behind malicious poisoning. How a society treats the weakest lives, especially those unable to speak for themselves, reveals much about its level of civilization.

Timeline

• Night of 2024-12-08: Dogs in the Tongzhou shelter began running wildly, collapsing and dying.
• 2024-12-09: Deaths continued; 13 dogs died in total and one was saved by a veterinary hospital.
• Afterward: Stomach contents from seven dead dogs tested positive for fluoroacetate poisoning.
• 2025-01-23: Ms. Hu received a police case receipt stating the case was accepted as endangering public safety by dangerous methods.
• 2025-01-25: Jiemian News published a feature report on the case and the evidence difficulties in pet-poisoning incidents.

Public Sources

This record is based on Jiemian News, 'Legal Front: How can pet poisoners be identified?' The number of dead dogs, test results, police case category and evidence difficulties are taken from public reporting. The report did not identify a specific poisoner, and this archive does not make claims beyond the available sources.

• Jiemian News: Legal Front | How can pet poisoners be identified?