HONG KONG—The fatal beating of a pet corgi by epidemic prevention workers disinfecting a residential building linked to a Covid-19 outbreak in southeastern China has sparked outrage in China, leading some pet owners and animal rights activists to question the extent of China’s stringent pandemic-control measures.

On Friday, the corgi’s owner shared security footage showing her dog cowering behind a table as two people wearing hazmat suits walk toward it, with one brandishing an iron rod. As the two workers step past the dog’s...

HONG KONG—The fatal beating of a pet corgi by epidemic prevention workers disinfecting a residential building linked to a Covid-19 outbreak in southeastern China has sparked outrage in China, leading some pet owners and animal rights activists to question the extent of China’s stringent pandemic-control measures.

On Friday, the corgi’s owner shared security footage showing her dog cowering behind a table as two people wearing hazmat suits walk toward it, with one brandishing an iron rod. As the two workers step past the dog’s cow-print bed, one of them hits the dog in the face with the rod as it tries to escape to the other room, after which it runs out of the frame.

In a video interview with a local media outlet, the dog’s owner, identified only by her surname Fu, said she witnessed the beating through an app on her phone connected to her home security camera and used a speaker embedded in the camera to beg the workers to leave her dog alone, but her pleas were ignored.

Ms. Fu said she heard the dog crying off camera and later saw the workers carrying a yellow bag away after the whimpers stopped. Blood could be seen on the ground afterward, she said.

She didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Corgi Chaofen’s owner shared security footage showing her dog cowering behind a table as a worker in a hazmat suit walked toward it. Image is a screen grab taken from a Weibo video posted online.

Chinese social media erupted with commentary and outrage at the death of the dog. Some questioned how they could still trust the system.

“A lot of people are compliant. They stop going out, wear masks every day, and even order takeout instead of going to restaurants,” read one post on the popular app WeChat. “Then they are quarantined through no fault of their own and their pets are killed—who can feel safe cooperating with the quarantine?”

Ms. Fu, who lives in Shangrao, a midsize city in Jiangxi province, said in a post on the Twitter-like microblogging platform Weibo, that she had named the corgi Chaofen, after a famous regional fried noodle dish. She also wrote that she had tested negative for the virus at the time of the incident.

The next day, district officials in Shangrao released a statement saying that workers carried out “biosafety disposal” procedures in the house “amid imperfect communication” with Ms. Fu. There is no indication the dog was tested for Covid-19 before it was killed.

The attack on the corgi comes as China continues its weekslong battle against a new coronavirus outbreak that has spread to multiple provinces. Across the country, thousands of people have been sent to centralized quarantine as contact-tracing work continues. China has adhered to a zero-tolerance policy for Covid-19 and has implemented stringent lockdowns to stamp out any trace of the virus.

State broadcaster China Central Television waded into the debate on Monday. In a lengthy opinion piece titled “Quarantined Pet Dog Savagely Killed,” shared on Weibo, CCTV said there was no absolute need to euthanize animals when confronting Covid-19, citing practices in Beijing and Shanghai, which generally allow for pets of people sent to quarantine to accompany them or be cared for separately.

“Don’t treat other people’s pets like animals,” read the CCTV post. “To a certain extent, the way a society treats animals reflects its degree of civilization.”

Pet dogs, especially expensive breeds such as corgis, have grown in popularity as status symbols and companions among China’s middle class and wealthy urbanites. Last April, China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs proposed that dogs in the country should be reclassified as “companion animals” instead of “livestock.”

The ministry proposed the change in light of “the public’s attention and love for animal protection.”

Ms. Fu said in a Weibo post, which has since disappeared, that she was ordered to enter quarantine just after midnight on Friday morning after a case of Covid-19 was discovered at Golden Phoenix Garden, the housing complex in Shangrao where she lived with her corgi. She said in her interview with local media that she asked for multiple assurances that disinfection staff would leave her dog alone if she left it at home.

Yet, later in the day at around 4:40 p.m., she witnessed Chaofen being attacked on her security camera app. She said the workers told her they had to do as they were told.

“I already did everything they asked me to,” Mrs. Fu said in the interview. “I have no idea what happened to him.”

There have been reports of other pet animals being euthanized throughout the pandemic, though some cities are more accommodating. In Beijing, there are special isolation points for pets, while in Shanghai some residents that were sent to quarantine were seen carrying their pet dogs with them.

Still, after the corgi attack, pet owners cautioned each other to take extra care to avoid contagion to protect their dogs and cats. Some warned not to trust epidemic prevention staff who say they won’t kill cats and dogs.

“If the same thing happens to me, don’t touch my pet unless you step over my dead body,” read one post on WeChat, reflecting a common sentiment. “My wife told me to pay attention to protection and not to get infected, or all three animals in the family would suffer.”

Pets have been ensnared in Covid-19 prevention measures across the world, with territories varying widely in how they handle the issue.

In Vietnam, people organized a petition after a dozen dogs were slaughtered when their owners tested positive for Covid-19. In Hong Kong, which found the first dog—a Pomeranian—to be infected with the coronavirus last March, dogs are sent to a government facility for quarantine.

In its public statements announcing such cases, Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said in February—when announcing a positive test on a poodle—that there was no evidence to show pets played a role in spreading Covid-19 among humans and urged owners not to abandon them.

Hu Xijin, editor in chief of nationalistic Chinese tabloid Global Times, weighed in after the incident, explaining that he could understand the outcry, but at the same time it was important to continue Covid-19 prevention measures.

“In my opinion, even from the perspective of crisis communication, this was certainly not a successful notice. It is not surprising to see it trigger controversies online,” Mr. Hu wrote. But “we should not expand the criticism to local epidemic prevention efforts as a whole, let alone regard this as the microcosm of the dynamic zero-case route across China.”

—Zhao Yueling in Shanghai contributed to this article.

Write to Natasha Khan at natasha.khan@wsj.com