Man caught butchering cats and selling them as rabbit meat to restaurants(Photos)

 A Chinese man allegedly posed as an animal lover to take in stray cats before butchering 100 a day in a barbaric slaughterhouse and selling their meat to restaurants.

The lead butcher, named as Huang Fuping by the local Chengdu Business Daily, is reported to have then sold the cats' flesh as 'rabbit meat' at 20 yuan (£2.30) per kilogramme.

Authorities shut down the illegal warehouse on November 23 after receiving a tip-off from volunteers at the Chengdu Aizhijia Animal Rescue Centre. 49 live cats were rescued.

An investigation by the Chengdu Business Daily found that Huang's neighbours believed him to be an animal-lover who rescued stray cats and raised them in his home.

He claimed the cats enjoyed life in a luxurious 50-square-metre house with 24-hour air conditioning, the newspaper reported.

In reality, they were crammed into rusting 20-centimetre cages in a 10-square-metre warehouse, where Huang is said to have cruelly drowned and skinned about 100 cats a day.

In a video filmed by an undercover reporter, a man shows a potential buyer fresh meat while washing a cat's carcass.

Chinese officials are reported to have caught Huang slaughtering cats as they raided his warehouse.

Several domestic cats were found floating in bloodied water after being drowned, with more inside the machine that ripped off their fur.

Culled from Daily Mirror