Five months of undercover work by a group called Animal Recovery Mission has led authorities in West Miami-Dade to shut down an illegal slaughterhouse and charge its alleged “ring leader” Raul “Freaky” Fernandez with seven felony counts of animal cruelty. Activists posed as customers looking to buy pigs to be cooked at things like parties and then set out to document many, many sickening things: Pigs being hit with sledgehammers, and pigs “dragged, hook-mouthed through the jaw” for long distances while alive. Another animal was “hammered and stabbed” before being thrown into a vat of boiling water “while still showing signs of life.” The group uploaded video of the operation to YouTube, but a quick FYI: Four undercover activists quit just after completing the operation because what they saw was so inhumane. [NYDN, Miami Herald, Related]
