A major joint rescue operation by Ugandan police and animal welfare groups has freed dozens of dogs held at bogus animal rescue shelters, where the animals were exploited to run fraudulent international fundraising schemes, the operation was launched after an undercover investigative project by the BBC.
Officers executed raids on two neighboring fake shelter facilities in Mityana, central Uganda, where the scam operation was based. One suspect, 54-year-old Owen Godfrey Membe, has been taken into custody, while two other individuals linked to the racket remain at large, according to animal rights activists working on the case.
Membe has entered a plea of not guilty to a single count of animal cruelty brought under Uganda’s 100-year-old Animals (Prevention of Cruelty) Act, which accuses him of killing an animal through unnecessarily cruel methods. He has been remanded in custody ahead of a next court hearing scheduled for 27 May.
All dogs seized during the raids, including animals from Membe’s operation and a connected nearby scam facility, remain at the original shelter sites but are now under the care of Animal Welfare Alliance Uganda (AWAU), a coalition of local and international animal protection groups focused on dismantling organized animal exploitation networks. The coalition, which includes board-certified veterinary professionals, has already secured a plot of land to build an emergency temporary shelter where the rescued dogs will receive ongoing care, treatment, and eventually be matched with adopters.
The prosecution against Membe is being handled as a private case by the Animal Justice Center, a Ugandan animal rights legal organization, with financial backing from We Won’t Be Scammed, a UK-based community group that conducts targeted online investigations to expose fraudulent animal rescue operations based in East Africa.
The legal action and rescue come one month after the BBC published its undercover investigation, which lifted the lid on a widespread scam ring in Mityana that manipulates photos and videos of distressed dogs to trick animal lovers across Europe and North America into donating hundreds of thousands of pounds. The scheme, which has grown rapidly over the past three years as social media algorithm changes prioritized emotional animal content, sees scammers create dozens of fake shelter accounts to harvest donations from well-meaning donors.
Secret filming by the BBC’s Africa Eye investigative unit found that instead of directing funds to veterinary care and shelter upkeep, most of the scammers funneled the donated money into high-end personal purchases including new motorcycles, designer clothing, and private housing.
Most disturbing of all, the investigation uncovered multiple confirmed cases where scammers intentionally injured healthy dogs to create graphic, shareable content that would drive higher donations. One high-profile case highlighted by the BBC was that of Russet, a mixed-breed dog who suffered devastating severe leg injuries that were shared across dozens of scam social media accounts alongside urgent calls for emergency treatment funding.
BBC investigators traced Russet’s journey from the Mityana fake shelters to a private veterinary clinic in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, where the operating surgeon concluded the dog’s leg injuries were most likely intentionally inflicted to generate fundraising content. Despite emergency surgery, Russet did not survive his injuries.
Bart Kakooza, vice-chairperson of AWAU, called the arrest a watershed moment for efforts to crack down on the growing scam industry. “This is the first arrest since the entire world saw how what started as small-time begging has developed into a full-fledged online scamming business built on animal suffering,” Kakooza said in an interview after the raids.
“The entire global community is now watching to see whether Uganda’s judicial system will hold these exploiters accountable, and whether we can deliver on our promise to give these rescued dogs a new chance at a life free from cruelty and exploitation,” he added.
The investigation has sparked international outcry from animal welfare groups, who are calling on social media platforms to implement stricter verification processes for animal rescue accounts soliciting donations, to prevent similar exploitation from occurring on their platforms.