Hundreds of Cats Saved from Being on Restaurant Menus

Chinese authorities have prevented a cat-astrophe – by saving more than 500 felines from ending up on restaurant menus.

A man identified only as Sun used sparrows and caged birds to lure stray and domestic cats in the city of Jiujiang in southern Jiangsu, the Washington Post reported.

Many of the cats were found in deplorable conditions – some near death – in cages on a truck and in a hut near a highway, the paper reported.

The man – who sold the cats for about 30 yuan ($4.40) each — was arrested Sunday after a villager named Yang told cops that his cats had been stolen, including a mother nursing five kittens, according to the South China Morning Post.

The news sparked a furor online, with more than 40,000 comments on the NetEase portal — with many outraged more that the man had lured away people’s pets, rather that the animals would be eaten.

In China, it is legal to eat cats and dogs.

More than 10 million dogs and about four million cats are killed every year across China for their meat, activists say.

During the 10-day annual dog meat and lychee festival in the city of Yulin, thousands of dogs and cats are “brutally bludgeoned to death,” according to activists.