A man who found his dogs eating the remains of a dismembered baby on his patio has told police how he thought they were eating mince.

The horrified owner – not named in local media in Cipolletti, Rio Negro province, Argentina – had gone to check on his dogs when they would not stop barking in the early hours of the morning.

But when he found one of them carrying meat in its mouth, he thought it was a hunk of mince with glass in it, put out by dog-hating neighbours.

He later realised that the mince had been the cut-up body of a newborn baby.

His wife – also unnamed in local media – said: “At around 2.30 the dogs were barking a lot, so my husband decided to go out and look.

“My pet also goes out and at one point my partner realises that the animal was carrying something, he tells me that he discarded another piece of meat on the roof of another home, thinking it was mince meat with glass.”

She added: “This morning the police went up to that place and verified that they were other remains of the body.

“They took my husband to testify, and when he walked back home, he found more remains in a bag.

“He notified the police and they went to see.

“Apparently there are more body parts in that location. The only thing we ask is that justice be done for that baby.”

It is currently unclear how the baby died and the authorities are investigating. The remains have since been taken to a morgue.