Over 200 dogs abused by owners in Bucks Beds and Herts
The RSPCA has launched a campaign to raise awareness and help the animals
Bucks Beds and Herts saw over 200 incidents of cruelty towards dogs in 2020.
In 2020, the charity's officers investigated 1,244 incidents of cruelty towards dogs in the South East, with 233 across Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.
To raise awareness for the issue, RSPCA is running the Cancel Out Cruelty.
They want people to understand what cruelty towards animals is, how to report it and how they can help the RSPCA tackle the case numbers.
Amy Ockelford from the RSPCA says its important to address this issue:
"The stats are quite shocking, really. We consider ourselves a nation of animal lovers.
"But what these statistics reveal is that dogs are actually four times more likely to be the victims of deliberate cruelty than other pets are.
"We'd say to anybody who is using social media, who sees something that they are concerned about, to report it to the social media provider, but also to contact us."
The RSPCA gets around 84,000 calls to its cruelty line every month. 1,500 of those are 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.
Amy says she is also concerned about the increasing number of videos showing animal abuse on social media, and children being exposed to it.
If you are concerned about the welfare of an animal, whether that is an injured wild animal, or a pet that you don't think is getting the appropriate care, you can call the RSPCA hotline under 0300 1234 999.