Dismembered pig carcass left outside mosque in Western Australia

A pig carcass has been found scattered outside the main entrance of a mosque in Australia.

The animal’s head, some of its limb and guts were found outside the Masjid Ibrahim mosque in Southern River, Perth, at 8am this morning.

Imam Shabir Moosa told news.com.au: “It’s an awful thing to see, and while we do not consume pigs, animal brutality universally is not acceptable, so it’s disheartening from that angle as well.”

He said he believed the person who had targeted the mosque, which was opened in June, was probably “venting, frustration or anger, an expression of an objection of something.”

He added that worshippers and students at the mosque would not be deterred by the incident and would continue to reach out to the wider Australian community.

“This is something that goes against the Australian spirit,” he said.

Islamic law forbids the consumption of pork, which is seen as harmful to both the body and the soul.

Here in the UK there have been a number of instances of pig remains being left outside mosques and Muslim community centres.

In January 2013, a 24-year-old man was sentenced to 12 weeks imprisonment, suspended for a year, after he admitted committing a religiously-motivated attack by leaving a frozen pig's head outside a community centre in Leicester used by the As-Salaam Trust.

And in the same month, a 21-year-old man was also jailed for three months after he dumped a pig’s head outside a mosque in Newbury, Berkshire.