Urban inspection authorities are trying to shut down an underground coop in Nanxiang Town that they believe is being used to house live cats captured in the city and nearby provinces and sold to restaurants in southern China.
Authorities suspect tens of thousands of cats have been housed in the coop and eventually sent to restaurants in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, since March.
The coop sits next to a recycling station on Zhongren Road in Nanxiang. The cats are held in small wooden cages, and are shipped away by the hundreds in vans, authorities said.
Officials said the coop's owner hired workers to watch over the cats day and night as well as to transport them to Guangzhou.
He also had a team of helpers that captured cats or bought them from similar underground spots, mainly in Jiangsu Province.
The urban inspection team has ordered the owner to shut down the coop, but a lack of regulations makes it difficult to charge him with any crime.
To date, officials have only been allowed to fine the owner for not having quarantine certificates for transporting animals.
There are no laws in China banning capturing or selling cats.
Authorities said the cats were sold for 10 yuan (US$1.20) each and used as a major ingredient in a famous Guangdong dish called longhufeng, which means dragon, tiger and phoenix.
Previously, civet cats were used to represent the tiger in the dish, but after civets were related to the SARS outbreak they were replaced with regular cats. Snakes are used instead of dragons in the dish, and chickens replace the phoenix.