About 50 fluffy kittens have been left to die on the outskirts of a Kazakh city by market traders because they are too expensive to look after during lockdown.

The poor kittens were found by a local resident taking a shortcut home outside the Kazakh city of Almaty on 26th July.

The local man called animal rights volunteers to inform them of the 50 odd kittens roaming the area of the wasteground.

Volunteers arrived and gathered as many little kittens as possible, saying they doubt they retrieved all of them.

Animal rights activists also said many of the kittens were found in a “deplorable state” and had viral conditions and other ailments.

Volunteer Elmira Mullakhodzhaeva said many felines were recently-born and should still be breastfeeding, adding: “We sent more volunteers to the field afterwards because we could not find them all at night. Maybe some kittens moved further away, maybe some were sick in a serious condition and could not make themselves known.

“Three kittens were taken to a volunteer’s house for overexposure, four are being looked after in a veterinary clinic, and the rest are under my supervision.

“We rented an apartment for them so we can monitor them.”

Mullakhodzhaeva said that they will remain in quarantine for a month, adding that they were probably abandoned in the area by bazaar traders because they are too expensive to look after while the market remains closed due to COVID-19 health measures.