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Heartless yobs killed Leewen Zhang’s dog Julie with poisoned chicken while she was en route to Europe.

Julie was killed after eating rat poison hidden in the meat, which Mrs Zhang said was a premeditated attack. The eight-year-old dog suffered an agonising death after eating just one bite. Mrs Zhang has now shared her heartbreaking story and a photo of her clutching her dead dog's body.

Woman mourns after her US service dog is poisoned by animal-hating thugs

She had brought Julie from from California to Chongqing, China and was planning to travel to Europe after Chinese New Year. But while staying in Yubei as she hoped to nurse Julie back from a heart condition, her beloved pooch was poisoned. Campaign charity group Fight Dog Meat, which helps animals and rescuers in countries where dogs and cats are eaten, highlighted Mrs Zhang’s story on social media. Mrs Zhang said on the group's Facebook page: “Evil people wrapped the rat poison into chicken meat and spread on the lawn Julie loves to go rolling over.

“She ate one little bite, and died in a few hours with huge pain and suffering. “I could never forget her scream, her cry and her fight for living. "It’s been one week after her death. I am still in deep grief and now I am ready to speak for Julie and for all the animals.” She claims she had overheard her neighbours threatening dogs and discussing killing them.

Locals had hurled abuse at her with one warning four times he would kill Julie. Mrs Zhang claims police warned her there was a lack of animal-rights’ laws in China. Hundreds of thousands of dogs are killed by poison in China, she said, with no rules to punish the culprits. She added: “There’s no animal laws in China now, doesn’t mean there will not be in the future!

Leewen Zhang was planning to travel to Europe from China with Julie