New figures show 72 reports of summer cruelty in East Yorkshire

The animal welfare charity has released the startling new statistics as part of its Cruelty Hurts Love Rescues fundraising campaign.

In June, July and August last year the RSPCA received 6,322 cruelty calls to their emergency line last year which is one call every 10 minutes when the line is open.

in East Yorkshire the number of cruelty reports over the summer months was 72 – slightly down from 73 the year before.

In one cruelty case the body of an emaciated puppy was found dumped in suspicious circumstances.

A member of the public made the upsetting discovery at Brackley Park, by the Hornsea rail line and contacted the animal welfare charity.

Despite an appeal for information the person responsible for abandoning the puppy could not be traced.

RSPCA Superintendent Jo Hirst said: “It’s incredibly alarming that we are seeing year after year of rising reports of cruelty. The summer months are our busiest times of year and our frontline rescue teams, specialist vets, behaviourists, rehabilitation and rehoming teams, will be working tirelessly to help as many animals as possible.

“Today we have launched our Cruelty Hurts, Love Rescues campaign to highlight this shocking trend and the work we are doing to save so many animals from horrific abuse and suffering.”

In response to fears of a rise in cases the RSPCA has launched a domestic abuse help page on its website - which is already seeing more than 1,000 visits every day, almost 50 an hour.

Superintendent Hirst added: “We don’t know for sure what is driving this peak in cruelty reports, but the surge in pet ownership during the pandemic has played a factor, while the longer days mean more people may witness and report such violence during the summer months.

“We rely on the public to help us and together we can turn this season of cruelty into one of love, kindness and rescue for animals that need it the most. We’re so grateful to anyone choosing to donate (www.rspca.org.uk/summer-appeal).”