Coronavirus – Cats and dogs ‘thrown from tower blocks’ in China after fake news rumours animals are causing spread

PANICKING pet owners are reportedly throwing cats and dogs out of towerblocks following bogus claims deadly coronavirus can be passed on by animals.

Chilling pictures coming out of crisis-hit China are said to show the bloodied corpses of animals lying in the road after being hurled to their death.

Five cats were also thrown to death in Shanghai, with locals apparently saying they were pets as they had smooth and clean fur, say unconfirmed reports.

One dog was found dead after allegedly being thrown from one block of flats in Tianjin City in Hebei Province.

Local media stated the pooch was thrown from the upper floors of a tower block at 4am and smashed into the sunroof of a car before ending up on the ground.

Reports state the noise of the dog hitting the car woke sleeping locals as it sounded like a tyre explosion.

Sickened families then found the poor pet lying dead on the ground with its blood staining surrounding bricks.

The shocking incidents were sparked after Dr Li Lanjuan said on Chinese state TV said : "If pets come into contact with suspected patients, they should be quarantined."

However, a local media outlet then reportedly tweaked her words into "cats and dogs can spread the coronavirus".

The false rumour spread quickly after Zhibo China posted it on social media platform Weibo.

In a bid to put and end to the false claims, China Global Television Network posted a quote from the World Health Organisation.

It read: "There is no evidence showing that pets such as cats and dogs can contract the novel coronavirus, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday."

PETA Asia press officer for China, Keith Guo, said: "We hope the police can find the cold-blooded guardians of those poor animals as soon as possible.

“In fact, it's the filthy factory farms, slaughterhouses, and meat markets that threaten the health of every human being on the planet by providing a breeding ground for deadly diseases like coronavirus, SARS, bird flu, and more."

On Thursday we reported how dog owners in China were rushing to buy face masks for their pooches as experts warn pets could also catch the deadly virus.

One online seller from Beijing told he is selling more special masks than ever before.

Zhou Tianxiao, 33, started selling special masks for dogs in 2018 to help protect them from air pollution.

But since the deadly new outrbreak, he has gone from selling 150 masks a month to at least 50 a day.

The killer bug has now spread to every region of China and 22 other countries including the UK.

The death toll has reached 213, with almost 10,000 people infected in what the WHO has called a global health emergency.