The video shows a monkey mounting a cat in its enclosure after the feline was put there to get rid of rats.

Smartphone footage recorded in the Kunming Zoo, located in China’s Yunnan province. Showed the feline strolling around the ‘Monkey Mountain’ enclosure and exploring the surroundings on 25th January.

Several moments later, one of the monkeys was observed approaching the cat and pulling its tail, and hair, after which it sat on its back.

Much to the amazement of present zoo spectators, the monkey then engaged in the surprising behaviour of repeatedly mounting the cat.

Zookeepers reportedly turned to the feral felines as a solution after a rat infestation began causing problems in the monkey enclosure.

However, soon after the video emerged on the social media platform Douyin, China’s version of TikTok. The zoo faced massive criticism for the unconventional decision.

Douyin user ‘You can’t handle bananas’ said: “I have always thought that monkeys are very mean animals.”

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Then user ‘orange.’ commented: “The cat really seems like a victim of human trafficking who can not escape but is held hostage by monkeys.”

And ‘Look what this is my cat’ added: “I have hated monkeys since I was a child.”

Animal activists from the China Small Animal Protection Association said they paid a visit to the zoo and saw the monkey exhibiting abusive behaviour towards the feline.

They said: “After arriving at Monkey Mountain. We looked at the monkeys for a while and found that there were two cats in the enclosure.

“They were trembling and very afraid of the monkeys. The monkeys were pulling one of the cats’ hair and sitting on their backs. They pulled and played with their tails.”

The zoo issued a statement saying that the cats will be released from the enclosure in the near future on 26th January.