A dead pig was found in the back of a burning car.
Sussex Police and investigators from the RSPCA said they had been left baffled by the bizarre incident in Worthing at 8.10am today.
The animal protection group said it was trying to track down the culprit, who could face six months in jail or a £20,000 fine if found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
Firefighters from Worthing Fire Station made the grisly discovery after they responded to reports of a car fire outside the Working Men's Club in Elm Grove.
The blaze, believed to be arson, was quickly extinguished and no people were hurt but the animal was dead.
An RSPCA spokeswoman last night said: "We don't know yet whether it was killed by burns or smoke inhalation or whether it had been dead before the fire. The whole situation is very bizarre."
Jason Leighton, steward of the Working Men's Club, said he had been told the pig was stolen from a farm in Littlehampton.
He said: "This has really shocked me. Unsurprisingly, we haven't had anything like it here before."
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