A Busselton fisherman wept while pulling a dead dog from the water at his local fishing spot, seeing that someone had weighed the poor beast down with a sledgehammer attached to its choke chain.
WAtoday and the Busselton-Dunsborough Mail have chosen to blur the distressing image of the dog, which Chad Woods saw while fishing for bream in the waters of the Wonnerup Floodgates.
"I was walking along looking for mullet to put on for bait and I saw basically half a dog hanging out of the water," he said.
"It was a couple of hundred metres up from the floodgates and it was out probably three metres in the water.
"I could see that it was a dog and I could see the rope going underwater, and because it was pretty clear, I could see the big hammer that it was tied to."
Mr Woods pulled the dog up onto the bank then reported it to rangers and the RSPCA, describing what he saw as "gross and cruel".
"Whoever did it should be punished," he said.
The RSPCA is aware of the incident and is investigating.
"We are dealing with yet another case of horrific animal cruelty," RSPCA WA Chief Inspector Amanda Swift said.
"We urge anyone with information relating to this incident to please come forward. If anybody recognises the dog, saw anything suspicious, or has CCTV footage from the area; please share that information with us by calling our cruelty hotline on 1300 CRUELTY. Any information big or small could be extremely helpful."