NEW figures reveal shocking number of dog abuse incidents last year.

The statistics, published by the RSPCA, show that three dogs are the victims of intentional harm every day in the south east.

Across the whole of the South East, the charity's officers investigated 1,244 incidents last year, with a total of 7,691 reports in the whole of the UK.

There were 133 incidents of deliberate abuse in East Sussex and 83 in West Sussex.

The highest number of cases were Kent with 233, Hampshire with 206 and Essex with 199.

The areas with the least incidents of dog abuse were the Isle of Wight with 16, Buckinghamshire with 58 and Oxfordshire with 72.

Over the four year period from 2016 to 2020, cases of intentional cruelty in the region have included badger baiting, violence towards a dog after damage to the owner's home and a puppy left with a broken neck who was left in a bag for life on top of a bin.

The Argus: New figures from the RSPCA show an increase in dog abuse cases across the south east

While six-month-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier puppy Bronson was left with a fractured skull and brain injury after being kicked for defecating in the owner's house in Hampshire.

As part of its Cancel Out Cruelty campaign, the RSPCA has released these figures to highlight that dogs are the most likely household pet to be abused.

While there are 12 million dogs and 12 million cats being kept in the UK as pets, dogs are four times more likely to face abuse, according to the charity.

From 2016 to 2020 there were 63,881 cases of intentional cruelty towards dogs and just 14,825 towards cats.

The charity receives 84,000 calls to its cruelty line every months and around 1,500 of those are regarding deliberate abuse.

It says that there is a rise in calls in the summer of around 400 calls on average every month, which equates to 47 calls every day.

Last year of the 7,691 incidents, 2,053 of them occurred in the summer.

The RSPCA are requesting support from the public in order to continue to investigate these incidents and rescue animals.

To donate to the Cancel Out Cruelty campaign you can visit: www.rspca.org.uk/stopcruelty.

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