RSPCA confirm rise in animal cruelty convictions
The UK’s standing as one of the greatest nations of animal lovers in the world received considerable damage recently after a report was released confirmed a massive increase in the number of owners abusing their animals.
The RSPCA revealed that since the launch of the Animal Welfare Act, which was made law in April 2007, the number of persons found guilty of cruelty to animals rose by almost 25% during 2007.
Somewhere in the region of 500,000 pets were found to be in need of help, many of them having been abused, abandoned or neglected in some way.
The Chief Officer of the RSPCA Inspectorate, Tim Wass went on record to say :
“ These animals are helpless victims of our affluent, throwaway society - they’re bought on a whim and discarded when the novelty wears off.”
The disturbing figures also exposed a 34% escalation in the number of those convicted for cruelty towards dogs and a 15% increase in convictions for cruelty towards cats. Cruelty investigations overall totalled just under 500,000, an increase of around 12% on the previous year.
Throughout the course of 2007 a total of 54 people received prison sentences on the grounds of animal cruelty and 861 individuals were prohibited from keeping animals on similar grounds.