RSPCA: 'Horrific' animal cruelty cases hit four-year high

A man bludgeoned a cat to death while another couple whipped and kicked a pony in some of the "horrific" animal cruelty cases which have led to a four-year high in prosecutions in 2017.

RSPCA Cymru said the levels of cruelty and neglect were "extremely shocking and deeply saddening".

Over the year, 148 convictions were recorded compared to 116 in 2014.

The charity's inspectors investigated a total of 10,176 complaints of cruelty across Wales last year.

The convictions involved 67 defendants, while a further 52 offenders were cautioned.

In one case in Pembrokeshire, a St Davids man who failed to care for five ponies was given a suspended 18-week jail sentence and a 200-hour community service order after letting their hooves grow so long the animals could barely stand.

An inspector said it was the worst case of overgrown hooves he had seen in 18 years.

RSPCA inspector Nic De Celis said: "What we were confronted with was five ponies with such overgrown and deformed hooves that two of them were reluctant to even stand, let alone walk.

"It was revealed in court it had been 10 months since the ponies were seen by a farrier."

The man was banned from keeping horses for five years.

A large number of cases concerned horses, with 17 prosecutions and 1,331 calls relating to 4,616 horses and ponies.

The RSPCA said cases relating to horses were a "crisis" which showed no sign of abating.

Dylan Edwards, from Llanrwst in Conwy county, admitted causing suffering to a cat after putting it in a bag and killing it by hitting it with a piece of wood.

At his trial, Llandudno Magistrates' Court heard the feral cat had defecated in the Royal Oak hotel kitchen in Betws-y-Coed, Gwynedd, where Edwards worked.

He had wrongly believed the cat was not a protected animal because it was feral but inspector Phil Lewis said: "To bludgeon a cat to death in this way is a heinous crime, and it is no surprise there was such widespread condemnation to this act."

A man and a woman from Llanelli were banned from keeping animals for eight years after the woman was shown whipping the pony on a video posted on social media, while the man held it and kicked it.

She received a three-month suspended sentence and he received a four-month suspended sentence while both had to carry out 120 hours of community service.

RSPCA superintendant Martyn Hubbard said: "It is extremely shocking and deeply saddening to see this level of horrific cruelty across Wales.

"Last year we dealt with several distressing cases that involved video evidence, that had been shared via social media.

"Convictions were successfully secured in cases where, for example, a video showed three men launching a rat out of a pipe like a cannonball, while another video showed a pony being brutally whipped and kicked.

"This evidence, understandably, causes great distress and public outcry."