After an octopus was viciously beheaded and a nurse shark was pummeled to death on a boat, two Florida fisherman were arrested.
Off the coast of the Florida Keys, Charles Mora, 30, was accused of slaughtering the mollusk while Michael Bossert, 52, allegedly slammed the fish against the gunwale.
An activist assaulted the two, and video of the assaults was sent to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Following the stone-crabbing journey, they were charged with third-degree felony animal cruelty.
Bossert is seen pulling a small shark out of a cage and repeatedly hitting it against the side of the boat until it becomes limp in shocking footage.
Later in the video, an octopus is hauled up before its head is ripped off and its body is thrown on the floor.
Despite its head going overboard, its eight tentacles continue to writhe across the damp surface.
During the November 19 journey onboard Booga Man, a third part of the video revealed what appeared to be a lobster being split in two by hand while still alive.
Kerin Rosen, an activist who claimed to be interested in commercial fishing and sought to join them, duped the two.
In his report, FWC investigator Christopher Mattson affidavit wrote: Mora grabbed the octopus and ripped its head and intestines out with a “violent ripping motion.”
‘Mr. Mora went about his business and continued to work,’ he added. He is completely unconcerned by the wriggling and struggling octopus in the bin.’
Rosen’simply displayed interest to this crew in learning about the stone crab industry,’ according to PETA spokesman Moira Colley.
‘The crew welcomed her onboard, where she openly recorded workers mutilating crabs and octopuses and pounding a shark against the boat’s side,’ she added.
Rosen, on the other hand, was a former PETA activist who, in 2015, used a hidden camera to film a horse stable in Kentucky in order to prove the use of electroshock devices.
Last month, Bossert surrendered to police in Bonifay, Holmes County, while Mora was arrested on June 1 after the video went viral in April.
On June 1, he was put into Monroe County jail on a $10,000 bond, which he was able to post. On June 20, he will appear in Monroe Circuit Court.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has filed criminal charges against commercial fishers, which is an uncommon occurrence.