Animal rights activists in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, got traffic police to help stop a truck loaded with cats by telling them there had been an accident, Beijing Youth Daily reported on Friday.

The truck was carrying 59 wooden boxes, each containing about 30 cats. At least 100 of the animals had reportedly died of starvation or suffocation.

Some of the remaining felines were taken to shelters.

The police sent the truck to a local animal health supervision station. The station found an animal quarantine certificate on the truck, but it was for pigeons, not cats.

The driver said he was coming from Shanghai and heading for Guangdong.

The owner of the truck, a woman surnamed Hu, said the cats were bought for about 10 yuan ($1.60) each. She indicated that they were being sent to Guangdong as food.