Animal activists in the Chinese capital Beijing are up in arms over a promotion campaign at a department store that gives out small pets indiscriminately to its customers, state media reported Sunday.
Rabbits, guinea pigs and turtles were among the prizes that visitors to the department store could take home along with their purchases when animal rights defenders arrived on the scene Saturday, the Beijing-based Star Daily said.
The way some of the customers dealt with the free pets was not encouraging, including a five-year-old girl who grabbed a rabbit by the legs and then squeezed its head, according to the paper.
The paper also related the conversation between two youngsters who speculated how much he could get if he sold a puppy to a third party, while the other thought a rabbit would make a tasty meal.
The promotion effort went on despite protests by animal rights activists, some of whom carried placards to the department store urging it to stop boosting sales at the cost of the lives of innocent animals.
The Star Daily interviewed an official with the department store, who said he was not concerned about the fate of the animals.
"This is a promotion effort to show our kind feelings towards our customers," he told the paper.
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