West Midlands is 'animal cruelty hotspot' after thousands of reports in last five years

Figures show the charity has received 4,491 reports of intentional cruelty to animals over the county since 2016, leading to it being branded a "cruelty hotspot".

The statistics were released by the RPSCA as part of its Cancel Out Cruelty campaign in a bid to help raise awareness and stamp out the issue.

Dermot Murphy, head of RSPCA animal rescue teams, said: "We always sadly see a rise in cruelty during the summer months. As well as more people being out and about in the longer sunny days, seeing and reporting abuse, we feel there are a number of factors which contribute to this rise.

"Unfortunately, the hot summer days can lead to more people drinking alcohol in the sun which can be a factor in causing violence. There could also be boredom during the long holidays and more pressures at home - when the whole family is on holiday from school and work, existing difficulties in the home can be magnified. During these hot months, calls to our cruelty line rise, putting more pressure on our already stretched frontline rescue teams.

"We are urging people in the West Midlands to support our campaign to Cancel Out Cruelty so we can all work together to end cruelty towards animals. We urge anyone who wants to report animal cruelty to us to call our hotline on 0300 1234 999."

The RSPCA receives around 84,000 calls to its cruelty line every month nationally and around 1,500 of those are about intentional cruelty, with the charity seeing a rise in the summer by around 400 calls – which equates roughly to 47 calls every day, or almost two every hour.