POLICE in the Philippines have arrested a couple accused of making dozens of videos showing teenage girls torturing and killing animals that were then posted and viewed on "crush fetish" websites worldwide.
The case stemmed from year-long sleuthing by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
"The 'crush' videos depict extreme cruelty to animals, including a rabbit... skinned alive, rabbits as they flailed and screamed while their ears were cut off and as they were set on fire," PETA said in a statement.
They also included a dog burned with a clothes iron, a monkey and several dogs hit in the eye with a stiletto heel and puppies crushed until they vomited.
Vicente Ridon and his wife, Dorma Ridon, are to stand trial in the northern city of San Fernando after they were tracked down at a rented house in a remote village, Senior Inspector Martin Ngadao, the local police chief, said.
"We got them two days ago, but they have already posted bail," Ngadao said.
After PETA reported the crimes to authorities, police charged the Ridon couple with animal cruelty, child abuse and human trafficking earlier this year.
However, the pair fled before they could be arrested.
PETA said a $2200 reward for information on the couple nine days ago helped the police track them down.
Six girls aged between 12 and 18 had been coerced into the cruel acts over two years after initially being lured to the couple's home to work as babysitters, it said.
Torture of animals is punishable by up to six months' jail, and up to three years' jail for the commercial exploitation of children. The penalty for trafficking children is life imprisonment.
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