A 17 year-old girl in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, got into a fight with a dog and its owner, resulting in the girl’s left ear being bitten off … not by the dog, but by the owner.
Zhou Shuang encountered the pet poodle near her home on Wednesday evening, and when the dog barked at her, she yelled back.
“I’ve been terrified of dogs since I was little,” Shuang told Heilongjiang TV.
According to Shuang, that didn’t stop the dog from jumping at her, so she kicked the dog.
The dog’s owner, an unidentified middle-aged woman came up to defend her dog. Shuang and the woman got into a fight.
It was only when the crowd of onlookers shouted “Blood! Ear!” that the drama ended, and the woman quickly left the scene with her pet.
After being taken to the hospital, Shuang learned that close to a third of her ear had been bitten off. She has since received surgery, but it’s unknown yet whether the ear will heal.
“I’m still very young… if my ear can’t recover well, it’s going to be for the rest of my life,” Shuang told Heilongjiang TV.
Zhao Lili, the girl’s mother, said there was blood on Shuang’s face, clothes and arms when she arrived at the scene.
The attacker is still at large and the mother spends her days looking for witnesses of the incident. Local police are also trying to track down the dog owner.
The incident quickly went viral on Sina Weibo, and some users have called on dog owners to ensure their pets are on a leash when they are out. One user wrote: “I’m confused. Who is the actual dog here?”
There are also dog lovers who blame the girl for kicking the dog. Another user, who is also a dog owner, said she would defend her pet if it were beaten or bullied, but in this case the woman had crossed the line.