Authorities took on the case after social media users flagged an advert on the Facebook page of a vendor that offered “fresh and delicious” and “high quality” meat for HK$328 (US$42) per kilogram.

The content posted on Friday by the company, which describes itself as a food wholesaler, depicts two meat-based dishes next to a cartoon dog with a caption in Chinese that uses the phrase “fragrant meat”, a colloquial term for dog meat.

A check of the advert’s edit history shows the author replaced the words “dog meat” with the innuendo on Saturday. The vendor’s social media page was set up on October 10.

The advert prompted a furious response from internet users, with about 2,700 of the Facebook post’s 2,800 reactions being the “angry face” emoji.

The Post observed that the advert has been shared more than 500 times so far, with most of those sharing the content calling for other users to report the business to authorities.

Thousands also tagged local police, as well as the Centre for Food Safety and the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department in posts on the subject.

The vendor initially reacted to the backlash positively and said: “Thank you, everyone. Sharing the post only lets more people know. Negative fans are still fans.”

The Post received screenshots from a Facebook user who contacted the business and posed as a customer looking to buy dog meat, with the vendor offering a Faster Payment System (FPS) number that matched that of a non-profit dog shelter.

She shared an image from the vendor, which the latter claimed was a record of customers sending HK$200 to a party listed as the “Hong Kong Homeless Dog Shelter Ltd”. The picture was also sent to the Post by a separate user.

The shelter has strongly denied any connections to the vendor and has expressed concerns over claims its FPS number had been used.

“We are 100 per cent not selling dog meat. This is a ridiculous claim,” said 32-year-old Sally Tse, who co-founded the Hong Kong Homeless Dog Shelter with her mother in 2013.

“We will be reporting this incident to the police and taking legal action.”

Tse stressed that the charity was a registered non-profit organisation that cared for more than 500 dogs and also invited the Post to visit the shelter.

Her mother and fellow co-founder, Angela Chan, said: “I sold my house to set up this shelter, I have given everything to look after these dogs.”

The pair said they had no idea why anyone would play “such a cruel joke” and they “vehemently deny” that they were selling dog meat.

The mother and daughter said they would check over their list of recent payments to see if any of the incoming cash was linked to the vendor.

The pair said they had received more than 60 donations since November 17, which they described as “normal”.

The Post reached out to the vendor, who refused to share information on the business, including its official name, unless he received a monetary reward.

He also claimed he had used the shelter’s FPS number “to help them”.

The slaughter and sale of dog and cat meat is illegal in Hong Kong, with offenders facing up to six months in prison and a maximum fine of HK$5,000.

In April of this year, Wu Siyuan, the operator of a frozen meat shop in Hong Kong’s Yau Ma Tei, received 10 weeks in prison for selling feline meat in breach of the Dogs and Cats Regulations and the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance.

The 40-year-old was arrested after authorities discovered traces of cat meat among samples taken from the store during a raid.

The commercial slaughter and sale of dog meat has also been prohibited in mainland China since May 2020, with the policy taking effect a month after Shenzhen and Zhuhai introduced their own citywide bans on the consumption of dog and cat meat.