MIAMI – The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office on Friday filed felony animal cruelty charges against three men accused of selling and butchering a pig, a sheep, and a rabbit.
Andre Pablo Martinez was charged with three counts of cruelty to animals; Daniel Lombana was charged with two counts; and, Juan Bazan was charged with one count.
The acts allegedly happened at 25775 SW 117th Avenue in southwest Miami-Dade County and were recorded by undercover cameras, according to the state attorney. The businesses sells animals for legal sacrifices, but some employees were illegally running a slaughterhouse, police said.
On Friday, the Animal Recovery Mission removed ducks, rabbits, chickens, and a horse from the business.
"The rabbits are stabbed to death, beaten with bats. They are at times skinned, possibly skinned alive," said Richard Couto with Animal Recovery Mission.
"The cruel dispatching of these animals at an illegal slaughterhouse is exactly what the Florida Legislature wanted to end when it created the animal cruelty statute," said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. "Such unnecessary brutality demeans not just the people who do it, but those who would stand by and let it happen."