Most persecuted pet in Cumbria is man's best friend

Case study - Dog repeatedly attacked by owner

Case study - Dogs encouraged to attack sheep

Figures released by the RSPCA have shown that almost 59 per cent of complaints investigated by the RSPCA in the county in 2015 related to dogs. 

This compares with 23 per cent which related to cats - the second most abused pet.

The charity released its annual cruelty statistics today and it showed that in Cumbria there were 807 investigations conducted into cruelty towards dogs, 209 into cats and 486 into other animals - equating at 1,502 cases.

Beverley Milburn, a dog re-homing officer for Animal Welfare Furness, described some of the cases she's seen as "horrendous". 

She said: "These figures don't surprise me. I have seen some dogs come through the kennels and I've had to call the RSPCA. 

"I once took a dog in where the owner had shaved it's back end to make it look like a lion but while doing it they had removed half its skin. 

"I have seen my fair share of abused dogs. Most recently I took a couple in that looked like they'd never been walked or ever had their nails cut. One of them had also had a bad reaction to fleas and the owner hadn't done anything about it - they were an absolute mess." 

Mrs Milburn thinks that a lot of this is do to with "puppy love". 

She said: "People love the idea of having a puppy but when it gets bigger and it needs walking and vet bills need paying some people just don't want to know."

Across England and Wales there were 81,146 investigations into cruelty towards dogs - more than twice the number of investigations into cats, of which there were 33,844.

Dermot Murphy, assistant director for the RSPCA Inspectorate, said: "These stories show a snapshot of the horrific level of cruelty we have seen in the last year, which have to be some the most extreme cases I have ever heard of.

"People think of dogs as man’s best friend but these statistics tell a different story. They are by far the most abused animal in this country and we investigate more complaints related to them than any other species."

Overall, across England and Wales, there was 143,004 complaints of animal cruelty investigated in 2015, down from 159,831 in 2014, and cases which had to be resolved by way of prosecution also decreased. 

There were 796 people convicted of animal welfare offences in 2015, compared to 1,029 in 2014.

As usual, the north of England saw some of the highest numbers.

On the rise in 2015 was the number of owners who were offered and accepted animal welfare advice - 81,475 across England and Wales. In 2000 this figure was around 4,000, in 2002 around 50,000, and in 2007 around 78,000.

Mr Murphy said: "It is encouraging that the numbers of complaints being dealt with by way of education and advice are going up, as we would always much rather improve animal welfare by giving advice to owners if at all possible.

"Even though that is cause for some celebration though, the level of depravity we have seen in those cases we dealt with in 2015 are up there with some of the most extreme we have ever known."