And then they ate it!

Thousands of pet cats in Beijing are being abandoned by their owners and sent to die in secretive government pounds as China mounts an aggressive drive to clean up the capital in preparation for the Olympic Games.

Hundreds of cats a day are being rounded and crammed into cages so small they cannot even turn around.

Then they are trucked to what animal welfare groups describe as death camps on the edges of the city.

Paranoia is so intense that six stray cats — including two pregnant females — were beaten to death with sticks by teachers at a Beijing kindergarten, who feared they might pass illnesses to the children.

As opposed to the whole “spitting and shooting snot on the sidewalk” diseases and “throwing broken crates of rotten bock choy all over Spadina Avenue” diseases and “eating dubious, illegal foodstuffs” diseases (cough *SARS* cough) that people spread, eh?

PS: sheesh.