Charity warns as cruelty cases against animals increase over summer

A campaign is been launched to help combat harm to animals.
The RSPCA has launched a new ‘Cancel Out Cruelty’ campaign.The RSPCA has launched a new ‘Cancel Out Cruelty’ campaign.
The RSPCA has launched a new ‘Cancel Out Cruelty’ campaign.

The RSPCA has launched a new ‘Cancel Out Cruelty’ campaign as newly released figures revealed there were 572 reports of deliberate cruelty to animals in Northumberland in the last five years.

The charity has released the figures today as part of the campaign which aims to raise funds to keep its rescue teams on the frontline saving animals and to raise awareness about how to help stamp out cruelty for good.

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Figures show the RSPCA gets around 84,000 calls to its cruelty line every month with around 1,500 about intentional cruelty.

But the charity sees a rise in the summer by around 400 calls, on average, per month, which equates to 47 calls every day or two every hour.

Dermot Murphy, head of RSPCA animal rescue teams, said: “We always sadly see a rise in cruelty during the summer months.

“Unfortunately, the hot summer days can lead to more people drinking alcohol in the sun which can be a factor in causing violence.

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"There could also be boredom during the long holidays and more pressures at home – when the whole family is on holiday from school and work, existing difficulties in the home can be magnified.

"During these hot months, calls to our cruelty line rise, putting more pressure on our already stretched frontline rescue teams.

“Police forces reported a rise in domestic violence last year during lockdown and we are concerned that similar pressures which led to this rise may also have impacted on more cruelty to animals behind closed doors during the pandemic.

“The past year has seen a reportedly huge rise in pet ownership and we know most people would not dream of harming an animal.

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"However, we are concerned that, as we come out of lockdown and people return to their jobs outside the home or suffer financial pressures, we will see more animals suffer if their owners find themselves unable to cope.

“We are urging people in Northumberland to support our campaign to Cancel Out Cruelty so we can all work together to end cruelty towards animals.

“We urge anyone who wants to report animal cruelty to us to call our hotline on 0300 1234 999.”

For more on the campaign visit www.rspca.org.uk/stopcruelty.

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