Wild test: China man tries mushrooms on pet before feeding his family; all land in hospital

A man in China is being slammed online for his devious and inhumane act against his pet dog. He found some wild mushrooms, which he fed to his dogs to check if they were fine to eat. While the dog lost its appetite, the man's entire family ended up in the hospital. The incident happened in China’s Sichuan province, where a 74-year-old man found wild mushrooms growing on his herb farm on July 13. He took them home, but wanted to be sure that they were not poisonous before eating them. His son, Jiang, told Shandian News that the mushrooms looked similar to the termite mushrooms found at their local store. However, there was a chance that they were poisonous. But he got greedy and did not want to leave the mushroom. So he came up with a plan. He cooked the mushrooms and fed them to his dog to check if they were poisonous.

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His entire family was hospitalised

He waited for two days to see whether the mushroom had an impact on the dog's health. The pet animal remained fine overall, but lost his appetite. Jiang Senior's family remained sceptical, but he decided to use them and cooked the mushrooms for his wife and son. They ate a few of them since they were unsure. However, three hours later, both of them started experiencing nausea and diarrhoea. They were rushed to the hospital, where the doctors cleaned their stomachs to remove all traces of the mushrooms. Jiang realised that while the dog did not get poisoned, it had stopped eating because of the wild mushrooms.

The man is getting a lot of hate online for turning his pet dog into a lab rat. Social media users are calling out the man for his actions, saying that he got what he deserved. Another pointed out the sheer ignorance of the man, stating that there are foods that humans can eat but dogs cannot, and vice versa. China doesn't have any comprehensive laws to tackle the abuse of pet animals. Meanwhile, Sichuan sees a whole lot of wild mushrooms growing in the region. Poisonous mushrooms, such as the fool’s mushroom and Neoboletus venenatu, also grow here. Doctors have urged residents not to consume wild mushrooms.