RSPCA marks animal cruelty rates in West Midlands ‘appallingly high’

The RSPCA has revealed that one in five people have witnessed animals being harmed online, amid a four-year high in animal abuse in the area.

The findings emerged as part of the RSPCA’s Animal Kindness Index, which was published on July 22 in partnership with the Scottish SPCA and the USPCA.

.The rise comes as young people view animal cruelty at higher rates online, with social media giants being blamed for spreading disturbing material

With 21% of people in the region viewing this content online, the animal welfare charity is particularly concerned about the impact of the content on those who watch it.

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Examples given by the RSPCA of what is out there include a Snapchat video of a dog killing wild deer uploaded to Facebook and a Snapchat clip showing a boy deliberately pushing a lamb headfirst down concrete spiral steps.

RSPCA chief executive Chris Sherwood said there was growing concern that the proliferation of animal abuse content online risked normalizing the harm, pain and suffering of animals.

“Our lives have been transformed by the internet – but it also comes with some inherent risks. We are deeply concerned about the terrifyingly high number of young people now being exposed to images and videos of animal abuse.”

According to the Index, more than four in ten (43%) of 16- and 17-year-olds and almost a third (32%) of 18- to 24-year-olds have witnessed animal cruelty online.

The RSPCA said that without action, there is a risk that widespread social media exposure to animal abuse will normalize such behavior for young people who have grown up spending time online and could desensitize them to the horrors of animal cruelty.

In response, the RSPCA is urging social media companies to do more to remove abusive animal content from their platforms. The latest figures show that 55% of households in the West Midlands own a pet and 83% believe animal welfare should be protected by governments through legislation.

Sherwood said social media companies need to step up to address the issue.

“Social media companies need to do more to protect young people from being exposed to this content – ​​or we risk fueling an animal welfare crisis even more, at a time when animal challenges are already among the biggest in the RSPCA’s 200-year history.

“Social media giants need to make it easy and obvious for people to report this horrific content, and they need to prioritize protecting their users from images and videos that glorify animal cruelty.”

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