Harrowing photos show hungry Brazilians scavenging animal carcasses for scraps of food

• Brazil is facing a growing hunger crisis, amid rising inflation and unemployment.
• Harrowing photos show hungry Brazilians scavenging through animal carcasses looking for food.
• Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro has been facing calls to resign of his handling of the pandemic.

Photos showing hungry Brazilians scavenging through animal carcasses for scraps of food lay bare the country's growing hunger crisis.

The images, taken by photojournalist Domingos Peixoto, show desperate people in Rio de Janeiro sorting through animal carcasses in the back of a truck that transports the discarded leftovers from grocery stores, The Guardian said.

"I haven't seen a piece of meat in a long time since the pandemic started," Denise da Silva, a recently widowed mother of five and grandmother of 12, told the Rio newspaper Extra.

"That bone is our mix. We take it home and make it for the boys to eat. I'm so grateful to have this here," she said.

South America's largest nation has been badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, which claimed the lives of over half a million Brazilians.

An estimated 19 million Brazilians have gone hungry since the start of the pandemic, and many have been plunged into poverty amid rising food prices and unemployment.

José Divino Santos, who drives the truck transporting the animal carcasses, told Extra that in recent months the number of people asking for bones and leftovers has increased.

"Some days I get here and I feel like crying," Santos said. "Before, people stopped by and asked for a piece of bone to give to the dogs. Today, they begged for some bones to make food."

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been heavily criticized for his handling of the pandemic, which critics say has contributed to the current economic crisis.

On Saturday tens of thousands of Brazilians took to the streets to call for his impeachment.

Bolsonaro is also facing a Senate inquiry into his handling of the pandemic, and the Supreme Court has authorized a criminal investigation.