Australia: Crocodile expert admits to raping puppies, killing 39 dogs
What's the story
Zoologist Adam Britton (51), a renowned crocodile expert and former academic at Australia's Charles Darwin University, pleaded guilty to 56 counts of animal cruelty against dogs and four counts of accessing and transmitting child abuse material.
He sexually abused and tortured 42 dogs, including puppies, from 2014 until his arrest in April 2022, of which 39 died.
Britton, who once hosted famous broadcaster and biologist David Attenborough, was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on December 13.
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Deceptive tactics to obtain dogs
Apart from torturing his own dogs, Britton sourced many dogs through Gumtree Australia, deceiving unsuspecting owners in the Darwin region.
He built a rapport with the dog owners and negotiated taking custody of the pets, often due to the owners' travel or work commitments.
He had a shipping container within his property equipped with a recording set-up, which he called a "torture room." After filming the act, he shared videos and images on online forums under various aliases.
Details
Chief justice excused court staff during hearing
Britton admitted to the charges at the Supreme Court of Australia's Northern Territory (NT).
NT Chief Justice Michael Grant described Britton's offenses as "grotesque and perverse acts of cruelty" and, in a rare instance, asked security staff, media persons, and others to leave the court to avoid "nervous shock."
In one of his messages, he wrote, "I had repressed it. In the last few years, I let it out again, and now I can't stop. I don't want to."
Australia
Moved to Australia 20 years ago
The police confiscated 44 items from Britton, including computers, mobile phones, cameras, external hard drives, tools, weapons, dog paraphernalia, and sex toys, ABC News reported.
Britton is known to have worked on BBC and National Geographic productions. He also hosted Attenborough on his property when the latter was shooting a part of the Life in Cold Blood documentary.
He is originally from the United Kingdom (UK), but he moved to Australia around 20 years ago to work with crocodiles.