An inquiry has been launched into the mysterious deaths of more than 200 cats at a seaside resort in southwestern France, in an apparent mass poisoning.

Psychosis has gripped the small resort of Saint-Pierre-la-Mer in the Aude after scores of kitties, both stray and ones from good homes, have been found mysteriously dead in recent weeks - most with mysteriously blue tongues.

Their deaths have been blamed on everything from rat poison to cannabis.

Residents are in shock after finding large numbers of cats in their death throes on streets and in containers. In one small area leading to the beachfront, some 50 lifeless felines were picked up in the past week alone.

"They were sicking up something blue, they were meowing and dying," said Stéphanie, a local, whose cat Sylvestre, 10, was among the victims.

"I found another cat on the terrace on its way out on an armchair," she told La Dépêche newspaper.