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Kitten Torture Photos Posted To Vancouver Website TheDirty.com (GRAPHIC DETAILS)

Sick Kitten Torturers Hunted (Graphic Details)
TheDirty.com

UPDATE - Jan. 18, 2013: The B.C. SPCA says the photos have been traced back to somewhere in Eastern Europe and they are no longer involved in the investigation.

The B.C. SPCA are trying to identify four men seen in online photos dismembering a kitten.

The shocking images were posted to the Vancouver page of TheDirty.com, which normally features gossip. It’s unknown if the undated photos were taken in B.C.

The images show four young men smiling for the camera while one holds the dead cat’s decapitated head and another holds a knife. Another picture appears to show two men skinning the small orange cat.

TheDirty, based in the U.S., features unflattering photos and gossip posted by users, but doesn’t normally host graphic images like this.

The post, which went up on Friday, is titled “Warning, Graphic: Find Out Who These People Are.” It’s addressed to “Nik,” the site’s administrator Nik Richie. He did not respond to The Vancouver Sun’s request for comment.

Many commenters on TheDirty said they were calling the SPCA and police.

Marcie Moriarty, the B.C. SPCA’s manager of cruelty investigations, said they were forwarded the link to the photos on Sunday night. The group’s investigators are trying to determine if the torture happened in B.C. and if the men seen in the photos are B.C. residents.

They may have to enlist the help of policing agencies who have more resources and databases to ID individuals, Moriarty told The Huffington Post B.C.

"It can be very difficult, I’m not going to lie. If at least we can work on identifying the faces, that could be a definite lead. Sometimes these photos and videos are posted and there are no identifying features to try to trace,” she said about online images and videos.

Last month, Jordan Lucas of Vancouver was charged with animal cruelty after investigators were able to identify someone chocking and strangling a kitten in video left on a used cellphone.

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