Cruel beyond belief - China's live animal markets

The newly opened Three Birds Market is the biggest collection and distribution centre for cats, dogs and all kinds of birds in Southern China, and officially operates as a poultry market.

Cat and dogs crammed inside cages with no room to move, many of them diseased, all destined to be sold as food. These are the shocking pictures from a live animal market in Nanhai, China.

Small metal baskets no more than 4ft long and 2ft wide house anything up to eight cats at a time.

Trucks arrive containing cages packed with dogs that have not been fed or watered for days ahead of their slaughter.

Disease is rife. They will soon be dead and sold as meat.