A woman filmed her dog eating raw mutton from a plate at a popular Beijing hotpot restaurant, prompting the eatery to close for three days for sterilisation. - Photo: Shutterstock/RedNote
BEIJING: A Chinese woman is facing a lawsuit after encouraging her pet dog to eat mutton rolls directly from a plate at a famous Beijing hotpot restaurant.
The incident reportedly happened at a branch of Nanmen Hotpot, a Beijing-style hotpot restaurant brand, in the Chinese capital on Dec 16.
A video posted by the dog-owning woman shows her encouraging her pet to eat directly from a plate.
“Frankly speaking, I do not even know what the mutton rolls taste like because my dog has eaten them all. The plate is completely empty now,” the woman says.
“How can I praise my dog? Just awesome,” she continues in the video.
The video went viral and sparked online outrage.
As China’s pet market continues to grow, more animal-friendly restaurants are opening in the country’s cities. - Photo: QQ.com
On Dec 18, the outlet announced that it had closed the restaurant to thoroughly sterilise it after it saw the video.
The restaurant was shut down for three days and all the plates and utensils were replaced.
The eatery promised that it would improve its management to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
It also promised a refund and compensation to all the customers who dined there from Dec 16 to 18.
The restaurant also vowed to hold the woman legally responsible.
A member of shop staff said they had called the police to track the woman down.
Coincidentally, another woman from eastern China’s Jiangsu province also posted herself allowing her two-month-old chihuahua to eat directly from the plate at a pet friendly restaurant.
The restaurant also replaced all its plates and required the customer to compensate for their loss. It will also ask patrons to put pets in their cages while dining.
The saliva of dogs and cats can contain harmful germs that in a worst-case scenario, can be deadly.
Meanwhile, amid a growing pet market in China, more animal-friendly restaurants and commercial facilities are appearing in cities.
The two cases also led to tension between pet lovers and diners who value hygiene.
“I will not go to pet-friendly restaurants because I am afraid of sharing tableware with pets,” said one online observer.
“Not sure if a pet-friendly restaurant is a good idea when some pet owners do not discipline their pets or themselves,” said another.
The hungry dog sits poised over a plate with its paws on the table. - Photo: QQ.com
Professor at Renmin University’s Law School, Ye Lin, told China Central Television last year that rules in some cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, ban dogs from entering restaurants and pet-friendly restaurants that allow dogs are fundamentally illegal.
Chinese restaurants are also prohibited from providing customers with tableware not fully cleaned or sterilised.
“I support the restaurant’s right to sue the woman and make her compensate for all the losses,” said another online observer.
Recently, a Chinese court ordered the parents of two 17-year-old teenage boys, who urinated into the hotpot at a Haidilao outlet as a prank, to pay compensation of 2.2 million yuan (US$310,000) to the chain.
The amount covers tableware replacement, cleaning fees and damage done to the brand’s reputation. - South China Morning Post
