People being mean to dogs went up by eight percent in Cambridgeshire, and the RSPCA (the animal people) are really sad about it. In the year 2022, there were 648 times when someone did something bad to dogs in that place. The year before, it was 596 times.
This means some people did things on purpose to hurt dogs, some didn’t take care of them, and some left them alone when they needed help.
The RSPCA says that things like trying to hurt dogs, making them sick, hitting them, and even killing them are part of this. Surprisingly, in Cambridgeshire, there were 95 reports about people hurting dogs on purpose.
Across the whole country, in the year 2022, the RSPCA got 42,690 reports about bad things happening to dogs. This is more than the year before when it was 39,797.
When it’s summer, more of these bad things happen to dogs. The RSPCA is ready to help more animals during this time.
The RSPCA wants people to know these sad numbers because they want help to stop it. They have a plan called “Cancel Out Cruelty” to get money so they can keep saving animals.
Kathryn Parfitt, who helps take care of animals in Cambridgeshire, said, “Dogs have been friends with people for a long time, but these numbers tell a different story. Dogs get hurt more than any other animals. It’s really bad when people kick them, beat them, or hurt them in other ways. We need help to stop this. Even small donations can help us save animals and stop the bad things.”
The RSPCA also found that in 2022, there were more reports of people beating dogs – 22 percent more than the year before. The worst month for this was August when they got 1,081 reports – that’s like 35 reports every day.
In 2022, 891 times dogs were killed in ways that look weird. That’s 15 percent more than 2021. And most of the complaints that the RSPCA got in 2022 were about dogs being hurt.
Dermot Murphy, who works at the RSPCA, said, “Right now, a lot of animals are being hurt more than before. It’s really sad. We don’t know exactly why, but maybe it’s because life is more difficult now. In summer, it’s even worse. We’re working hard, but it’s not easy. We need help to keep doing this.”
The RSPCA is the only group in England and Wales that looks into these things and saves animals. They need help from people to keep doing this important work.
