A pet owner posted a 'heartbreaking' TikTok of the moment her dog died, gaining millions of views, but critics are calling it exploitation

• A TikTok showing the moment a dog passed away has gone viral, but the millions of viewers had mixed reactions.
• The April 25 video, which has 2.6 million likes and 100,000 comments as of Wednesday morning, starts out with a dog named Sparky's visit to the veterinary emergency room.
• "He's passed," the veterinarian said. The dog's eyes remained open in the moment of his death.
• Many viewers have questioned why the user would film the emotional and traumatic moment.
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A viral TikTok video shows the moment a dog died. While many commenters have called the video "heartbreaking," others have taken issue with the widely shared video showing the animal's death online.

The April 25 video, which has 2.6 million likes and 100,000 comments as of Wednesday morning, begins with a dog named Sparky's visit to the veterinary emergency room. "Sparky was acting weird so we took him to the ER," the text over the video said. Emma Conger, the TikToker and Sparky's owner, showed herself crying after learning that the dog had a ruptured tumor and internal bleeding.

Then, the video shows Conger petting Sparky and saying "I'm so sorry," with the camera facing the dog. "He's passed," the veterinarian said. The dog's eyes remained open in the moment of his death.

@md_mermaid

Worst day of my life. I’ve never been this broken ##sad ##goodbye ##broken ##fyp ##foryoupage ##MMMDrop ##dog

♬ Surrender - Natalie Taylor

The video's caption had the "#fyp" and "#foryoupage" hashtags, so it was widely visible on TikTok's exploratory hashtag pages.

Comments on the video range from messages of support and condolences for Conger to questioning her choice to publicly share such a shocking and emotional moment. "Why'd you record the entire thing," said one comment, while others asked why the user had "time" to record the whole experience.

Tweets about the video also posed similar concerns. "I can't believe I just saw a dog literally die on TikTok," one tweet said. "I'm mortified," said another.

—Tea Sesh ◢ ◤ (@TeaSeshYT) April 27, 2020

—rose (@XylanneOfficial) April 27, 2020

Conger, whose TikTok username is @md_mermaid, commented on the video seemingly in response to the criticism. She said she didn't plan on making the TikTok video, and that she was "doing everything to try and cope but it wasn't working so I tried doing this and it helped some."

Despite the controversy, James Serpell, the director of the Center for the Interaction of Animals and Society at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine, told Insider that the video isn't exploitative of the animal itself. Serpell said that while it's odd to have posted videos from such an emotional moment, it makes sense that so many people connected to it. "People can identify with that experience and that's the motivation for sharing," Serpell said.

While videos of animal deaths have historically been met with much criticism online, most examples have been about animal hunting. (Images of animal kills are not allowed on Facebook.) Conger's video does not appear to be in violation of TikTok's guidelines, which prohibit content "that is gratuitously shocking, sadistic, or excessively graphic," including animal abuse and cruelty.

Conger did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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