Over 1,000 dog skulls were found in a garbage dump in central Thailand recently, the Bangkok Post reported.

The skulls were found while firefighters put out a blaze at the rural dump.

Authorities fear that the dogs were killed for food, most likely meatballs, and that the processor intentionally started the fire to cover his or her tracks.

The dump was unofficial, which probably made it easier for dog meat producers to discard the remnants.

In Thailand, eating dogs is considered taboo, backwards and primitive, according to GlobalPost's senior correspondent in Bangkok, Patrick Winn.

However, Winn explains, criminal syndicates snare dogs in the upcountry and illegally smuggle them to Vietnam, where dog meat is a delicacy worth nearly triple the price of pork.

Enterprising Thais have long grown wealthy gathering stray dogs by the tens of thousands and selling them to Vietnamese distributors for about $10 per head. An especially desirable dog is said to fetch as much as $60 in a Greater Hanoi meat market.

Only low-grade dog meat remains in Thailand, where it's often mashed to a pulp and dried into jerky.

More from GlobalPost: The Dog Meat Mafia