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The barbaric cat market exposed by The Mail on Sunday has been shut down by police in China after pressure from thousands of horrified readers.

The report - followed up by newspapers and magazines throughout the world - detailed the appalling conditions the animals are forced to endure before being killed and eaten in restaurants.

Animal welfare organisations said the closure of the Xin Yuan market in the city of Guangzhou, capital of the southern province of Guangdong, represented a 'significant victory' for The Mail on Sunday and its readers because it is not illegal to sell cats for food in China.

The country's embassy in London was flooded with calls and letters - many of them from Chinese people living in Britain --who were shocked by the sickening trade.

Others wrote to the animal welfare organisation, Animals Asia Foundation and, armed with hundreds of readers' letters, it set up a meeting with Chinese government officials. Bowing to the pressure, they ordered police officers to raid the market last week.

The cats, which were squeezed 25 at a time inside cages measuring 2ft by 3ft, have been released and it is understood an assurance has been given that they will not be sold again.

The Mail on Sunday found hundreds of cats on display, all crammed in cages stacked up to 12ft high in some cases. Some of them remain for up to two months inside the cages . . . and many die before reaching their final destination.

One trader, Yanwu Peng, eagerly proferred his business card, which stated: 'Supplier of cats to fine restaurants and hotels'. He told us he didn't understand the concerns about his treatment of the animals. 'I do not think it is wrong to keep them this way,' he explained. 'They will die soon anyway.'

He sells the cats to restaurant owners for about £1 a pound, less if they are bought in bulk. They are fed once a day on a mixture of rice and animal feed.

Jill Robinson, director of Animals Asia Foundation and one of the few Westerners to have visited the market, thanked The Mail on Sunday for highlighting the animals' plight.

She said: 'We've received a phenomenal number of letters, phone calls and e-mails as a result of your story. The article provoked reaction all over the world. It was amazing.'

Ms Robinson took many of the letters with her when she met Chinese officials last week to press for a change in the law.

'I'm surprised but delighted that the authorities have responded so quickly,' she said.

The cats - just like our domestic pets - are reared by villagers who sell them on to the market where they are bought by restaurant owners.

At one restaurant in Guangzhou the animals are put in cages outside and customers are invited to select the one that takes their fancy. The chef then kills the cat of their choice by cutting its throat.