Burnt, shot, cut: animal cruelty soars

Last year, inspectors from animal welfare charity the Scottish SPCA found animals burned, stabbed, shot and left to starve to death in a series of "sickening and harrowing" cases they investigated across the country.

The number of cruelty cases in the courts totalled a record 129 – an eight-fold increase in prosecutions from seven years ago.

Chief Superintendent Mike Flynn, who heads the charity's investigations wing, said the severity of the cruelty dealt with by the SSPCA in 2009 was the worst that he could remember.

"Our inspectors and ambulance drivers have had to deal with some of the most sickening and harrowing scenes you can imagine," he said. "There is an element of callousness we haven't seen before. And I think that may be a reflection of society.

"One case which stands out from last year was a wee staffie dog we rescued that was so gentle and loving, despite having survived being shot in the head 13 times with an air gun by her drunken owner in Glasgow.

"Her owner was prosecuted and banned from keeping animals and she was rehomed."

In another case investigated by the SSPCA, a dog was tied up and left to starve to death in Brechin.

"Equally disturbing was an incident in Peebles where a dog was found by a member of the public burned to a crisp," said Chief Supt Flynn.

"The dog was probably alive when it was doused in petrol and set alight.

"One of the most mindless attacks happened in Fife, when a newborn foal was slashed across the neck, receiving a deep, 8in wound. Remarkably, she survived her ordeal, but many other animals didn't."

Chief Supt Flynn said the charity's rescue and rehoming centres cared for 14,019 unwanted, abandoned and neglected animals last year, compared with 12,545 in 2008.

"In 2003, there were only 16 prosecutions and 37 in 2004," he said. "Then it took a massive leap in 2005 up to 115. An increase in investigations led to 129 cases of cruelty to animals being dealt with by the courts in 2009, compared to 114 during the previous year."

He continued: "It's not just outright cruelty. We are also tackling a constant stream of neglect, where owners don't feed their animals or take them to a vet when they are sick.

"It is fair to say that 2009 was the worst year in recent memory for animal cruelty."

But Chief Supt Flynn stressed: "While our workload has increased, we believe that this is due in part to people being more aware of who we are and how we can help."

Calls to the charity's helpline rose 16 per cent in 2009, with 146,000 received.

John Robbin, secretary of the Animal Concern advice line in Scotland, said his organisation had seen a similar upsurge.

He said: "Some of the increase is to do with the economic climate, because owners can't afford to take their pets to the vets."

Foal's throat slit

A TINY foal was said be lucky to be alive after being cruelly slashed across the neck at a farm near Cupar in May.

The black and white foal was only four days old when it received the deep, 8in long wound, running diagonally across its neck and narrowly missing the animal's jugular vein.

Blasted 13 times

A FEMALE Staffordshire bull terrier, below, was shot in the head 13 times by its owner in a drunken attack in Glasgow. Following an investigation its owner was convicted in October and banned from owning or keeping animals for ten years. The dog recovered from its injuries before being found a new home.

Tied up and starved

THE body of a female Rhodesian ridgeback rottweiler cross was found in March after the dog was tied to a fence and left to starve on the outskirts of Brechin. The SSPCA said the animal would have suffered a "slow and lingering death from starvation and dehydration". There were only fragments of soil and wood in its stomach.

Pet suffered burns

THE body of a female Staffordshire bull terrier cross dog was dumped in a field near Peebles in April with horrific burns over its face and body. "This was a particularly brutal and sickening attack that would have caused a tremendous amount of pain and suffering to the animal," the SSPCA said."