Fishermen arrested after beheading octopus and beating baby shark to death

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A pair of fishermen have been arrested after being caught on video brutally beheading an octopus and battering a baby shark to death

Charles Mora, 30, allegedly ripped the head off the octopus and 52-year-old Michael Bossert has been accused of repeatedly beating the nurse shark against the side of a boat off the Florida Keys coast in America.

An activist passed on recordings of the savage attacks to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

The shark eventually goes limp on the video at the end of its violent ordeal, while the octopus has its head casually and callously torn off and thrown overboard before its tossed down on the floor, where its eight tentacles continue to writhe.

Later, the clip also appears to show a lobster being ripped in half while still alive.

The footage was shot in November by activist Kerin Rosen, who tricked the crew into believing she was interested in commercial fishing to join them onboard.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigator Christopher Mattson reported that Mora used "a violent ripping motion and removed the head and guts" of the octopus.

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He went on to point out that: "Mr Mora went about his way and continued to work. He does not pay any attention to the octopus squirming and struggling while suffering in the bin."

Rosen, who previously took a hidden camera into a Kentucky horse stable in 2015 to try and prove the use of electroshock devices, was invited on the fishing trip when she convinced the crew she had an interest in the stone crab industry.

PETA spokesperson Moira Colley added: "The crew welcomed the individual aboard, where she openly recorded workers mutilating crabs and octopuses and beating a shark against the side of the boat."

Bossert gave himself up to police in May and Mora was arrested at the start of this month.

The latter was bailed out of jail after a bond of $10,000 (£8,200) was met.

He will now appear in Monroe Circuit Court on Monday.

• Sharks
• Fishing
• Animals

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