A magnet fisherman got a nasty surprise when he pulled up the corpse of a drowned dog - wrapped in chains.

The man, who wished to remain anonymous, was retrieving items from the river when he pulled up a bag bound with heavy chain.

Disturbing headcam footage shows the moment the 'rib cage' was pulled from the river near Tireman Avenue, in Rouge Park, Detroit, Michigan, USA.

The magnet fisherman, who runs a YouTube channel called 'Motor City Magnet Fisher', was concerned as the bones made him believe they could have been human remains.

He is heard saying in the video: "It's either a dog or a person, dude! That's a rib cage right there!"

After pausing the magnet fishing, the putrid stench of the corpse hits him and he exclaimed: "It stinks horribly bad."

The man and his crew were helping the local community clean up the river and had only been there 10 minutes before the gruesome discovery.

The dog's corpse was weighed down by the collar with a heavy logging chain.

He said: "My immediate thought was that it was a person based on the size of it, but probably a smaller person.

"The feeling was a mixture of panic, dread and heartbreak at the prospect of what it could be.

"It was the smell of a rotting corpse. It is a very distinct smell. It is worse than the smell of rotting meat alone.

"We were twenty feet above it and it was very cold water at the time, but it was still very pungent."

The man managed to move the corpse to the bank after being advised by the authorities.

Community members affiliated with the park were alerted and took care of the corpse on behalf of animal control.

The man has been magnet fishing for over three years and this is the second drowned dog he has found in this river - both within a matter of weeks.

He said: "A few weeks prior to this we had found another dog weighed down and drowned but that one we saw from the shore and did not directly have contact with it.

"We called animal control and told them where it was so they could retrieve it.

"It was, without a doubt, a dog - unlike this one - that could have been something other than a dog."

The gruesome discoveries have had an effect on the man and his crew and changed his perspective how things.

He added: "You always know in the back of your mind that there are very sick people in the world, but when you are confronted with the evidence of what they are capable of it changes your perspective a little.

"We still can't believe someone is so messed up they could do this to another living thing.

"Taking an animal's life for food is one thing, but you just know the dog trusted its owner enough to let them pick it up and throw it off the bridge to drown.

"We think the dog may have been an illegal fighting dog that someone disposed of. But if it was already dead, there was no reason to attach a heavy chain to weigh it down.

"I suppose I'm still shaken up by it because I still think about how scared the dog must have been when it all happened."