00:01It's a really demanding time. It's an animal welfare crisis. That's how it feels right now,
00:06that we're seeing more and more animals coming into our care. We're seeing the rise in this
00:11horrendous cruelty alongside neglect, abandonment. New RSPCA figures show a massive 90% increase
00:19across the UK in the number of animal beatings reported to the charity, with one incident
00:24recorded around every 15 minutes. The animal welfare charity revealed that a startling 16,033 beating
00:33incidents were reported last year. That's almost double since 2021. It was found there were 356
00:40beatings in Tynanwea last year. That's a rise of 30% since 2021, when the figure stood at 274.
00:49It's really hard because we see the animals behind those shocking statistics. So that's
00:54more than 350 just in this area. And we know that the cost of living crisis is having a huge
01:00impact.
01:01And we know after COVID, there was a real pet boom with many people adopting more pets.
01:05But that often doesn't explain these intentional harms. So we are seeing a rise in neglect and
01:11abandonment too. But this intentional harm is really awful cases. So beatings, stabbings,
01:17mutilations, and it's often committed by the person who should really be caring for that animal. And
01:22you'll see from our SPCA prosecutions, we do our very best to bring people to justice. But we know
01:28behind those steps are individual animals. And it's just such a hard time for them right now.
01:34The charity is encouraging people to report concerns about animal abuse, while continuing its work
01:40responding to reports across the region. And it's not just cats and dogs, is it? There's other animals
01:46involved in this as well. What kind of things do you see in your role?
01:49Absolutely. So warts, cats and dogs often do bear the brunt of the worst of it. They are the most
01:54common animals we see coming into our care. It really is across all species. So that includes
01:59wildlife, livestock, horses, exotic pets. So really, any type of pet people can have, smaller pets like
02:07rabbits and guinea pigs. It's a really concerning time for us. So we see particularly during the months
02:12of June, July and August, we have this rise in intentional harm. And that's those beatings,
02:17those real mistreatments. And that's not the neglect cases where people have let their animals
02:25not met their needs, allowed them to not have an appropriate diet. This is horrendous cruelty. And
02:30that really does rise during the summer months. And we sometimes don't quite know why, but it is that
02:35sad trend that we do see. With beatings, we're really reliant on the public helping us help those
02:41animals. If they have any information or evidence of anyone mistreating an animal, to really get in
02:47touch with us, share that information. So we're in an age where CCTV footage, ring doorbells,
02:54dash cam footage can really help us as a charity. Be the eyes and ears for those animals too.
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