A student at Nanyang Institute of Technology in Henan province has been expelled for abusing a cat, the university said in a statement on Saturday.

The student, surnamed Li, was found to have abused a cat by torchlight in a cage, according to the statement. The incident was exposed on social media on Aug 27, and sparked outrage among netizens.

The university said the next day that it had formed a special working team to investigate the incident, and that the preliminary investigation confirmed that Li had abused the cat. The university also said that it had criticized Li and demanded that he reflect on his behavior.

However, netizens were not satisfied with the university's initial response, and many called for Li to be expelled from school. In response, the university said on Saturday that Li had been expelled in accordance with the Regulations on the Administration of Students in Institutions of Higher Learning and with the school's own regulations.

The incident has raised calls for stricter laws to protect pet animals in China. Li Enze, a lawyer with the Beijing Yipai Law Firm, said that China is making strides in the protection of wild animals, but that the laws on the protection of pet animals are relatively lagging behind.

He said that the current laws do not specifically address the issue of cat abuse, and that this leaves a legal loophole that can be exploited by animal abusers. He called for the government to enact stricter laws to protect pet animals.