Cruel wildlife officials in Malaysia have been shamed by animal lovers after it emerged they used tiny live puppies to catch rogue panthers in the wild.

The sick technique was revealed by media in Negeri Sembilan state when they discovered pups had been used to trap three panthers terrorising villages.

Malaysia’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) later admitted the disturbuing method.

Heartlessly, they claimed they’d used puppies because fully grown dogs had been too big to fit in the traps.

Villager Rusmazaiti Kamarulzaman, 31, who’d helped in the hunt, told local newspaper Sinar Harian: “After one was caught last week, Perhilitan set the trap again last Saturday.

“We put the same bait which is a puppy.”

Officials admitted they had used pups to catch three rogue panthers near Kuala Pilah town to return to the wild.

Local politician Dato’ Seri Aminuddin bin Harun confirmed in a Facebook post:”PERHILITAN has successfully trapped three panthers on 18th and 27th September, and 1st October.”

The capturing method was sharply criticised by animal rights group Persatuan Haiwan Terbiar Malaysia, or SAFM.

President R. Kalaivanan, 34, said they should have used raw meat in the traps to lure the panthers in.

Astonishingly, Perhilitan CEO Abdul Kadir Abu Hassan said they had used live puppies because their terrified barking would have tempted the big cats.

He said: “In this particular case, there was indication that the panther had attacked dogs so we used the puppies for their barking and scent to attract the panther.

“We resorted to using puppies as we could not fit an adult dog into the trap.

“The puppies were released from the cage as soon as the panther was caught and none of them were injured in the process.”