As part of its Cancel Out Cruelty campaign, the RSPCA has revealed the scale of calls about intentional cruelty that it received between June 1 and August 31.
The charity received 492,471 calls to its cruelty hotline over the summer, including 271 calls about attempted killings, 3,059 calls about animals being beaten, 421 reports of improper killings, 181reports of mutilations, and 304 reports of animals being harmed in suspicious circumstances.
RSPCA chief executive Chris Sherwood said: “For our frontline officers, rescuing animals from horrific circumstances never stops. We receive more incidents of deliberate harm to animals over the summer months than any other time of year, which is heartbreaking.”
During the summer months, there have also been a number of RSPCA prosecutions coming before the courts.
Chris Sherwood added: “We are so grateful to people who report suspected animal suffering to us. The public are our eyes and ears as we work together to help improve animal welfare and promote animal kindness.”
