Rich Kids of London use Maltese puppy 'to clean supercar'

'The only way to wash the iconic 6.0 litre #MaseratiMC12 is with 100 per cent natural puppy fur ensuring a proper polish'

Stunt was a "joke" according to account's creator, however animal welfare community reacted with outrage (Screenshot)

Footage of a wealthy Londoner apparently using a tiny puppy to clean a supercar has sparked outrage among the animal welfare community.

The video uploaded to the Rich Kids of London Instagram account shows an unidentified man holding a tiny, white Maltese puppy and using its back to polish a Maserati MC12 car.

The caption on the five-second video, which had received close to 40,000 views at the time of writing, said: “The only way to wash the iconic 6.0 litre #MaseratiMC12 is with 100 per cent natural puppy fur ensuring a proper polish.”

The caption continued: “(No puppy was harmed in this video - all smiles and tail wags here)”, but the account’s followers didn’t seem to buy in to the joke.

One person wrote: “Apparently this person spoke to his dog and found the dog said it was happy that they were being used as a car tool, which I find amazing the fact the human could speak dog.... that or the owner is an ignorant t*** who has no insight.”

Another accused the man of “abusing an innocent puppy.”

However Scarlett Caplan, who claimed to be the dog’s owner, hit back at criticism and said her puppy was clearly not in distress.

“Look, people are taking this way too seriously. Hero - the name of my puppy - was perfectly happy and loves being put on his back for tummy tickles and treats and I can assure you he was in no distress when this was filmed,” she wrote.

“I think it's quite clear to see if your puppy is in distress, Hero clearly wasn't. I'm so sorry that you have no sense of humour, if you know a better car cleaning method let me know but he's a working dog and we have a shiny car so all is good.”

This is not the first time the account has courted controversy. A video was posted to the account last year that showed the group setting fire to a Mercedes worth £87,000 because the owners “were bored.”