Photo: Screenshot of Weibo

A café chain in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality said it had returned red pandas, China's second-class protected animal, to a local breeding facility after a social media post showing the animals in their shop triggered a flood of criticism online and caused the national forestry authority to launch an investigation.

The Chinese National Forestry and Grassland Administration said on Sina Weibo on Wednesday that trading in wild animals is prohibited and vowed further investigation into the case.

A netizen posted a photo on Sina Weibo on Monday that showed a red panda in a café in Chongqing and questioned if the café was allowed to have the animal. The photo featured the red panda lying on the floor in the café.

The post triggered a social media backlash with many netizens calling on the related authorities to investigate the case and protect the animals.

A café employee surnamed Zhu told the Global Times that they had stopped the activity and sent the pandas back to a local breeding facility after the criticism.

Zhu said that they did not buy the pandas and were not planning to raise the animals.

The café was cooperating with the breeding facility to hold science education activities in the shop and that's why the red pandas were taken to the café to see if they could adapt to living there, said Zhu.

"If the red pandas could adapt to the café's environment, there would be activities here where children could learn more about the animals and their habits by observing the pandas and the animals would be returned after the activities," Zhu said.

According to the related law and regulation, an individual or group without a license to domesticate and breed wild animals will be fined up to 3,000 yuan ($426) and have the animals confiscated.