Video Captures Miami Man Hitting Animals With A Sledgehammer, Then Stabbing Them Repeatedly Before His Arrest
A Miami-Dade man was arrested Saturday on animal cruelty charges after police raided a Hialeah slaughterhouse where blood and other fluids seeped into the ground, potentially endangering the city’s water, authorities said.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said the accused slaughterhouse operator Rudesindo “Rudy” Acosta, 57, was caught on a video camera “brutally beating an animal with a sledgehammer as it squeals out in pain and then stabbing it repeatedly for profit.”
The video images show Acosta slaughtering a bull and two pigs on a piece of agricultural land in Hialeah that he does not own, according to the state attorney’s office. The images were shot in September and October by the founder of a nonprofit organization, Animal Recovery Mission, and turned over to a Hialeah police detective as evidence for an arrest warrant issued Friday.
“No legitimate slaughterhouse operator or any self-respecting farmer would treat their livestock in such a ghastly manner,” Rundle said in a statement.
Hialeah Police Chief added: “What concerns me is we’re dealing with a public safety issue; there’s no telling what health hazards families are exposed to when they consume meats sold by these unregulated slaughterhouses.”
According to the state attorney’s office, Acosta was charged with three counts of animal cruelty and one count of use of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He was also charged with 40 counts of animal confinement and three counts of conspiracy to commit animal confinement, which are misdemeanors.
Unlicensed slaughterhouses have become commonplace in the western parts of Miami-Dade County, where authorities in recent years have busted offenders for illegally butchering and selling horse meat, pigs and chickens.
Source MiamiHerald