A fisherman who found a dead alligator floating trapped in a dumped tyre has told how rampant pollution is killing the waterways in Brazil.

Grim photos show the giant ‘gator floating on its back in a lagoon in Jacarepagua, near Rio de Janeiro.

Trapped around its chest is a tyre that seems to have trapped its front legs.

The gruesome images stunned the public after fisherman Joao Batista Caiera shared them last week.

Caiera, who works at the Baixada de Jacarepagua fishing association, told local media: “I was fishing, then we saw him, and it was really saddening.

“Rotten fish, stinking water, this pollution is destroying our lagoons. It’s sad for us that we also depend on this place for food and water, it’s sad for us.

“There are days when we go to the lagoon and come back with nothing because of pollution.”

Caiera said animals in the lagoons also struggle to survive among tonnes of waste dumped in the water.

Experts say waste dumping and rampant illegal harvesting of natural resources is out of control because of Rio’s massive population of nearly seven million.

In addition, capybaras and alligators are targeted by illegal hunters.

Biologist Mario Moscatelli, who has worked on the improvement of the lagoons for more than 30 years, claimed that the pollution harms the region’s entire ecosystem.

Moscatelli said: “Unfortunately, the amount of garbage arriving continues to be gigantic, 95 per cent of which is domestic waste, sofas, refrigerators, water tanks, in other words, part of the population is not contributing.

“This war needs everyone’s collaboration.”