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This is the disturbing moment villagers in China filmed themselves boiling a tied-up dog in a huge pot of water.

The footage, which was taken somewhere in Henan province and posted online, shows three men standing around a steaming wok placed above a fire.

While the men seem to be cooking at first, within moments a large steel pan placed on top of the wok starts moving around.

Three men in Henan province, China, have filmed themselves throwing a dog into a pot of boiling water before covering it over with a metal pan

The disturbing footage shows the tied-up animal writhing around in the steaming pot for several minutes before it falls on to the floor

One of the men then lifts the pan up, revealing the dog underneath which is struggling around in the steaming water with its paws tied together.

After leaving it in the boiling water for several minutes, the dog falls to the floor where the villagers begin stripping its fur off.

They then untie the animal's legs, before it gets up and starts running around the yard in which they are sitting.

It is not clear what exactly the men are trying to do with the animal, since after it gets loose none of them attempt to catch it.

It is also not clear when or where exactly the footage was taken. It was uploaded to Liveleak on Tuesday where it has since attracted a lot of attention.

The men then start stripping the animal's fur off as it lays in a bowl before untying its legs

After being untied the animal gets up and runs away, with none of the men trying to catch it

According to not-for-profit organisation Fight Dog Meat, over 10 million dogs are slaughtered each year in China's dog meat trade.

Founder Michele Brown said the animals are tortured because of an ancient belief that tougher meat has more health benefits, including an increased male libido.

'The only way to get the meat tough is to flood the conscious animal's body with adrenaline,' she told Daily Mail.

'Most of the times the aim is not to kill the dog straight away... sometimes they will be tortured for hours'.