WATCH: Animal cruelty uncovered in Spain’s Canary Islands’ Tenerife and La Gomera

A SERIES of animal cruelty cases have come to light in Canary Islands’ Tenerife and La Gomera.

La @guardiacivil realiza en Tenerife y La Gomera varias actuaciones contra el maltrato animal.

☑️10 cerdos vietnamitas en lamentables condiciones higiénico-sanitarias
☑️1 perro en grave estado de desnutrición
☑️12 perros muertos en un barranco#YoSiPuedoContarlo pic.twitter.com/uaRsQhh1uL

— Guardia Civil (@guardiacivil) April 20, 2020

Puerto de la Cruz Local Police tipped off the Guardia Civil’s SEPRONA Nature Protection Service about what they suspected were terrible conditions at a farm with Vietnamese pigs.

SEPRONA officers found 10 pigs in a really bad state, with no food or water and showing clear signs of malnutrition.

Nor was there any shelter, leaving them fully exposed to the elements night and day.

As if that weren’t bad enough, the officers also came across broken sheets of highly toxic asbestos, wooden pallets with sharp edges and a metal mattress base, all of which could have injured the pigs, the Guardia pointed out.

On top of this, the ground the pigs were rooting around on was covered in rocks and holes and the animals’ waste.

A wider inspection of the property revealed a stable with three horses with no microchip of authorised alternative mark. The Guardia reported that while the horses did not look unfed, again the hygiene conditions left a lot to be desired, and the stable lacked the usual basics, like automatic water dispensers.

The farm owners turned out to have no ownership, identification or medical check documentation for their animals, and now face sanctions.

Also in Tenerife, Guardia made the grisly discovery of 12 dead dogs dumped at the bottom of a 60-metre deep ravine on the border between the municipalities of Arico and Granadilla de Abona. None of the animals had been micro-chipped and some of the bodies were in sacks.

An investigation has been opened to see whether any crime has been committed.

Over on La Gomera, Garajonay SEPRONA officers charged a 42-year-old man from Hermigua for breaking the law on the protection of flora, fauna and pets for starving his dog.

Acting on an alert from a member of the public, officers went to the man’s property and found the pup was nothing but skin and bones, and being kept in filthy conditions. The dog also had wounds all over its body, which the Guardia suspected could have been caused by various untreated illnesses.