Warning: Graphic content.
Authorities in Brazil have busted a heinous international dog fighting ring where pets were barbecued and eaten after losing their brutal contests.
A total of 41 people, including a doctor, a vet, a police officer, an American, two Peruvians, and two Mexican were arrested at the secret event, which took place on a farm in Mairiporã, Greater São Paulo, on Saturday.
Paraná Civil Police and São Paulo Department of Citizen Protection Police (DPPC) discovered 19 severely injured pit bulls, including puppies, during the early morning raid.
Warning, this video contains graphic images showing the authority’s grim discovery:
The distressing video shows the moment the frightened and badly maimed animals are rescued by police. One terrified dog jumps off a bed and scuttles beneath it in the hope of hiding from another vicious confrontation in the ring.
When police arrived at the cruel, clandestine event, they found a suspect holding two dogs who were locked at the jaws.
Detectives said the wretched animals were pitted against each other in a battle to the death.
The doctor and the vet were allegedly responsible for treating and rehabilitating the injured animals so they could continue to fight.
The seriously wounded creatures were found tied up and caged. Some were hiding under furniture. All showed signs of mutilation, inflicted from bites and claws, suffered during the vicious bouts. One critically injured dog was found dying on a table. Two others later died from their wounds.
A large piece of roasted dog meat with the tail still attached was reportedly served to participants at the sickening event.
Body parts from the dead losers were also allegedly fed to the emaciated and callously maimed creatures.
Police chief Jan Plazk said to Brazilian TV programme Fantastico:
We found a dog had been cut up and barbequed to serve to those attending the match.
It was heartbreaking to see this level of cruelty and this type of barbarism. After the animals had been destroyed in the fight and couldn’t fight any more, it appeared they were killed and cooked to be eaten.
Investigators managed to track down the animal abuse ring after four months of following the activities of a pit bull breeder in Curitiba and a dog trainer from São José dos Pinhais.
They were given an anonymous tip-off from someone who alerted authorities to a series of scores that were being circulated on social media and shared in WhatsApp groups.
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via story@unilad.com
Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.