Dozens of cat lovers gathered Thursday in front of Guangdong's provincial office in Beijing, calling on the local government to protect cats from being killed, the Beijing Evening News reports.

The protest came after an earlier report by the newspaper, disclosing that some 5,000 live cats were caught and recently transported from Nanjing in eastern China to Guangzhou, capital city of the southern province, where large number of cats were reportedly cooked live and eaten.

The report says the pet lovers who lodged their protest in front of the building of the Representative Office of Guangdong in Beijing were all middle-aged women who commit to taking care of stray cats. These cat lovers were much disturbed and hurt by the reported slaughter of cats for food in Guangdong.

In an initiative they submitted to the Guangdong provincial office in Beijing, they urged local government departments in Guangdong to take action against such barbaric practice of consuming cat meat.

An official from the office said the initiative would be passed on to related departments in their province as soon as possible, but declined to answer questions from reporters.