New Figures Show Scale Of Deliberate Wildlife Abuse Across Sussex

The RSPCA has today revealed that callers from Sussex have made dozens of complaints after observing intentional harm to wildlife in this county committed in the last year alone.

The 31 complaints logged in 2020 are part of a larger total the animal welfare charity disclosed this morning, showing how non-domesticated animals such as deer, swans and hedgehogs are among the UK's most abused.

Almost 10,000 (9,997) calls reporting intentional harm inflicted on a wild animal were received in the last five years.

As part of its "Cancel Out Cruelty" campaign, RSPCA data showed that wild mammals and birds bore the brunt of the abuse across the period from 2016 to 2020.

The number of cruelty incidents relating to wild mammals totalled 4,383, with wild birds persecuted in even greater numbers, at 5,049.  

The figures also demonstrate that deliberate cruelty to wildlife is its highest during the summer months.  

Last year (2020), 376 wild animals were reported to have been intentionally harmed across the lockdown months of June to August alone.

RSPCA Head of Wildlife Adam Grogan said:

“We say we’re a nation of animal-lovers and yet every year, we see wild animals in our wildlife centres and animal hospitals that have been badly injured or killed by being beaten, mutilated, poisoned, or shot for ‘fun’.

“Our data shows that reports of cruelty to wildlife surged over last summer.

"Police forces reported a rise in anti-social behaviour during that first lockdown, when pressures and frustrations may have led to more of this type of crime, leading to some seeking ‘entertainment’ through these sorts of barbaric incidents involving wildlife.”

The RSPCA’s inspectors see first-hand the suffering inflicted by criminals on animals through wildlife crime such as airgun and crossbow shooting, badger baiting, dog fighting, illegal hunting with dogs including hare coursing and trapping birds.

They have dealt with some particularly distressing incidents in recent months, including:

• a hedgehog stoned to death in Nottinghamshire
• a collared dove shot with a crossbow in Greater Manchester (pictured)
• lurcher-type dogs being encouraged to chase down hares (Cambridgeshire)
• a gull being repeatedly kicked outside a supermarket in Middlesbrough
• foxes being deliberately trapped and kept (bagged) then let loose to be hunted by dogs (Kent)
• dogs encouraged to hunt down and attack deer in Bury
• a bat roost sprayed with chemicals until the bats died in Northampton
• a swan shot six times in Wrexham (x ray pictured)

Across a five year period (2016-2020), RSPCA data shows that foxes were by far the most persecuted wild mammal, with a total of 2,299 reports of intentional harm, followed by deer (500), badgers (497), rabbits (388) and hedgehogs (331). Pigeons were the bird most likely to be harmed intentionally with 1,518 cruelty reports received, followed by swans (700), gulls (648), ducks (395) and geese (336).

The RSPCA’s Cancel Out Cruelty campaign aims to raise funds to keep its rescue teams on the frontline saving animals in desperate need of help as well as raise awareness about how we can all work together to stamp out cruelty for good.