Brits part of international animal cruelty group that electrocutes, drowns and starves cats for online videos
The network - which started in China and is believed to have thousands of members - shares and sells graphic videos and images of the animals being tortured and killed, the BBC reports.
It comes after a 16-year-old girl and 17-year-old boy from north-west London pleaded guilty to torturing and killing two kittens in a park.
Between May 2023 and May 2024, approximately one new video was uploaded online every 14 hours, according to the vigilante animal rights activist group Feline Guardians.
Feline Guardians says it has documented 24 animal abuse groups this year, the largest of which has more than 1,000 members.
New members are encouraged to mutilate animals and share their torture videos before being allowed to gain access to the wider network.
The most active torturer is believed to have filmed the abuse and murder of more than 200 cats.
Chat conversations between group members, who are seemingly based in the UK, include discussions about how to obtain cats including adopting them from the RSPCA.
In another exchange one shared an advert for kittens for sale alongside the message stating that they wanted to 'torture them [the kittens] so bad [sic]'.
In September 2023 the network launched the '100 cat kill' competition, during which members were challenged to kill and torture 100 cats as quickly as possible.
Viral videos depicting the brutal torture and murder of cats were originally posted by Wang Chayoi.
He was detained by the Chinese authorities for 15 days and made to write a letter of repentance.
But his footage developed a cult following across the globe inspiring copycat videos.
Lara, a volunteer for Feline Guardians, spends her time undercover on animal abuse forums.
Speaking to the BBC she said: 'Every day I feel heartbroken, there is not a day that goes past that I don't feel like my heart is breaking.'
The group have held several demonstrations outside the Chinese embassy in London urging the CCP to take harsher action against animal abusers in China.
Explaining, Laura said: 'In mainland China, there are no laws that are stopping this.
'So that means that abusers and torturers can effectively do what they want and live out these very sadistic fantasies without any consequence.
'These videos are then uploaded, and essentially that's a global problem, because that means that everyone has access to these videos.
'Children are seeing this.'
Ian Briggs, head of the RSPCA's special operations unit, told the BBC: 'Treating animals in this way is absolutely not acceptable and has no place in a modern society.'
Johanna Baxter MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group [APPG] on cats, added: 'Animal abuse often acts as a gateway, making future acts of violence easier to rationalise and commit.'
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