Conflict hidden among cat enthusiasts and exploiters, capitalizing on mistreatment
In Eastern China, a hidden network of cat torturers operates with impunity, fueling a growing international phenomenon that involves mutilating and killing cats for profit. The gruesome trade, which proliferates on mainstream platforms like Telegram, X, and YouTube, targets consumers with a sexual fetish for animal cruelty, known as "zoosadism."
Chen, a pseudonym to protect his identity, is one of the undercover activists who takes on this dark underworld from the comfort of his home. Every night, he logs onto his computer and plunges into a nightmare world, filled with graphic content that would make even the most hardened viewers recoil.
The groups behind the cat torture network are expanding quickly around the globe, with America, the UK, Turkey, and Japan among the countries where consumers purchase the sickening videos. According to the criminologist and animal sexual abuse specialist, Jenny Edwards, based in Seattle, this disturbing trend is happening more frequently than people realize.
Activists argue that many of the torturers are based in China, where animal cruelty laws are lax and enforcement, if it exists at all, is inconsistent. Protected by a culture of impunity, the cat torturers produce videos for consumers worldwide, exploiting the absence of legal protections for animals in China.
So far, the Chinese government has not responded to questions presented by our company regarding this issue.
The cat torturers' chat groups provide a chilling snapshot of a world where torture is trivialized and celebrated with a macabre sense of pride. A culture of competition has emerged, with members pushing one another to suggest more inventive styles of abuse, creating a twisted hierarchy of cat deleters and masters.
During a months-long investigation, our company infiltrated some of these encrypted chat groups, observing as members shared their grim conquests and proposed new forms of depravity. Chen, a member of an alliance of activists called Feline Guardians, has spent years watching the videos and befriending torturers, amassing information that he hopes will lead to their eventual capture.
Feline Guardians, which includes activists like Lara in London, aims to draw global attention to the issue in the hopes that it will spur action, particularly in China. Lara, who requested anonymity to avoid online retribution, believes that the problem originates in China before it spreads to other parts of the world.
In recent years, both the volume and brutality of the cat torture videos have increased. According to data gathered by the Feline Guardians, there was a 500% increase in new torture videos added to Chinese Telegram groups they monitor between June 2024 and February 2025. A new video is uploaded on average every 2.5 hours, with over 500 new torture videos added in just the first two months of this year.
Some of this content is available on mainstream websites, such as a YouTube account seen by our company, which had 'playlists' with over 800 videos of cats being killed. After our company requested comment, YouTube removed the channel and an associated one, citing a violation of its policies.
Many of the cat torturers are ordinary people, from elementary school students to the elderly, according to Chen. The number of people involved in the Chinese-based networks continues to grow, and they include foreigners outside China.
The suffering of the animals is turned into searchable terms, with terms like "T-Rex" used to describe cats that have had their front legs cut off and can only stand on their back legs. In some cases, cats are dismembered and their guts pulled out and stretched. The torture is prolonged as much as possible, with the aim of providing maximum pleasure for the viewers.
A Chinese consumer, who wished to remain anonymous, admitted to regularly paying for this type of content. He claims that it gives him stronger sexual pleasure than intimate relations with his wife and that he has spent thousands of dollars on the videos. He believes that most of the buyers include officials, programmers, and managers, some of whom share details of their employment in the groups.
Jenny Edwards, the criminologist, explained that the primary driver of this fetish is sadism, a sexual deviance that involves deriving pleasure from watching others suffer. Zoosadists often keep their proclivities hidden from their friends and family, living a double life to avoid detection.
Phaedra, a US-based animal rights activist, has faced revenge from the cat torturers after she highlighted graphic torture content on X to encourage censors to take it down. Some of the abusers created deepfake pornography of her and threatened to skin her pets and family. In December 2024, she received death and rape threats via X.
Chen, the undercover activist, believes that many of the people involved in the networks are lonely men who feel left behind by society. They seek connection within these groups, finding it among their fellow torturers who share their unspeakable hobby. Chen sees them as 'incels,' or involuntary celibates, who derive sexual pleasure from hurting animals that are typically loved by women.
Activists claim that some consumers are drawn to this content because the cat's screams sound like those of women, children, or even women being tortured. They fear that these behaviors in the online underworld could have disastrous consequences, involving the abuse of humans.
Despite the challenges faced by activists and the ongoing lack of legal protections for animals in China, they remain committed to fighting the cat torture network. On May 18, they organized global protests in more than 20 major cities around the world, demanding an end to cat torture.
Advocates argue that strong, effective laws and consistent enforcement are essential to shutting down these networks and preventing the suffering of countless innocent animals. They hope that by drawing attention to the issue, they can force change, both in China and around the world.
Science has increasingly emphasized the importance of addressing mental health in the context of health-and-wellness, and the online cat torture network in Eastern China highlights a disturbing intersection of mental health, crime-and-justice, and general-news. The cat torturers, who operate with impunity in China, are not just committing heinous crimes against animals but also potentially engaging in an extreme form of mental health disorder, as highlighted by Jenny Edwards, the criminologist, who associates these actions with the sexual deviance of sadism. This issue underscores the urgent need for comprehensive policy changes in China, particularly in the realm of animal welfare and mental health, to protect not only animals but also human mental health and wellbeing.
