Hong Kong police investigate viral video of dog trapped in running washing machine

Hong Kong police are investigating social media videos that appear to show a dog trapped inside a running washing machine.

Police confirmed on Sunday that they had received a report the previous night about a video circulating on a social media platform showing a suspect treating a dog inappropriately.

Two Instagram stories that surfaced on Saturday night show a dog inside a front-loading washing machine, tumbling with the drum as the machine runs through its cycles and fills with water.

One of the videos is captioned “OMG”, which is short for “Oh My God”. The original account and videos had been removed as of Sunday.

Under Hong Kong’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance, anyone convicted of cruelty to an animal faces a maximum penalty of HK$200,000 (845,000 baht) and three years in prison upon summary conviction.