The brutal practices of China's street trade in cat and dog meat has been revealed in a shocking report on local television.

Chinese street traders caught on TV selling fresh animal meat, proudly explained that the animals are 'humanely' drowned by being shoved in a bag and thrown in a nearby river.

Live dogs and cats are kept in cages, in order for customers select the animal they want, after which the can take it home alive or pay to have it killed, skinned and cooked in front of them.

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Horrible: Dogs and cats are kept in cages in order for customers to pick the animal they want, after which it is 'humanely' drowned by being shoved in a bag and thrown in a nearby river

Street food: The cat, as in this picture, is then skinned, butchered and cooked in front of the customer

The traders at the illegal market on the banks of the Xi River in Foshan city in southeast China's Guangdong province say they started drowning the animals to avoid 'distressing customers'.

The traders said that people had complained about seeing the animals killed in front of them, and as a result had come up with the alternative to kill them humanely.

After a customer has chosen an animal, the cat or dog is put in a bag and thrown in the river to drown.

Trader Ming She told local TV: 'We want to prove our customers that what we sell is fresh unlike some of the shops in town, but with no facilities to kill what we sell out of view, the best and most humane thing to do is to throw them in the water.'

Not bothering to walk to the river, this street vendor prepares to drown the cat in a bucket for a customer

The vendor then takes the dead cat to prepare in for cooking, all by the side of the road

The vendor cooks the cat on an open fire in front of the waiting customers

Creck down: The local council says they will investigate the illegal meat market on the banks of the Xi River in Foshan city in southeast China's Guangdong province

Disgusting: A female vendor prepares to cook two dogs, hanging by their necks from a nearby tree

He said that the animals died quickly in the sacks and added: 'It is a painless death, which nobody complains about.'

After ten minutes in the water, the animal is skinned and can be butchered in front of the customer or even cooked fresh and eaten straightaway.

Following the report on local TV, Foshan city council announced that it planned to crack down on the market, as the meat could be 'unhealthy'.

Council spokesman Guang Kang added: 'It may seem as if the meat is fresh because it is alive, but the source of these animals is unknown and many of them could be diseased or unhealthy for other reasons and we would advise people to stay away from them.'