The University of Utrecht is performing an autopsy on the carcass of a porpoise found in Sexbierum, Friesland on Tuesday. The animal seemed to be severely abused. It was beheaded and its unborn young was found meters away.

Richard Bijman, who was on the animal ambulance that responded to reports of the porpoise, called the scene "nauseating". "We went there at once and found an adult animal that was torn apart completely. The head was cut off. Terrible" he said to RTL Nieuws.

Bijman believes that the animal was dragged behind a moving car. "We saw skid marks on the road and the animal had a kind of tension cable around its tail." The porpoise's unborn young was found dozens of meters away.

The police will launch an investigation for the perpetrators once the autopsy reveals exactly what happened to the porpoise and what was its cause of death. "It looks like the porpoise was abused, but we must first be sure before we can investigate possible perpetrators. We expect to get the autopsy report Wednesday", a spokesperson said to NU.nl.

Bijman is furious about what happened to the porpoise. He only hopes that the animal was already dead when the abuser got hold of her. "If the animal was still alive, then it suffered so terribly much. It's not to think about."