An adorable dog has been rehomed after it was cruelly dumped in a terrible state with matted hair and a large tumour on her stomach beside the A47.
A kind-hearted member of the public stopped to help the poor dog while driving along the flyover near to the Adrian Flux arena in King's Lynn.
Sweet 14-year-old Molly, a Shi Tzu-type dog, was taken to a nearby vet who in turn reported it to the RSPCA.
Her coat was matted from head to toe, she was lethargic and unable to stand for very long. The matting was around her ears, chest and legs and had to be pulled back so she could see and she was dirty and unwashed.
She also had a large mango sized mammary tumour hanging from her belly, affecting her walking. She was so skinny that her ribs could be felt and she weighed around 6.8kgs.
Molly's sad case is not unusual. New figures released as part of the animal welfare charity’s Cancel Out Cruelty campaign show that despite being man’s best friend, in Norfolk there were 689 reports of dog cruelty to the RSPCA last year.
Of these, there were four abandoned dogs, eight seized due to illegal activity, a staggering 110 who had been intentionally harmed, 120 left unattended, 433 neglected and 14 who had been trapped.
Nationally, there were 44,427 reports of dog cruelty made to the RSPCA involving 92,244 dogs last year.
That is 253 a day or more than 10 an hour - and includes 10,228 dogs reported as beaten. This shows a significant 16pc increase since 2020 - when cruelty reports involving 79,513 dogs were made to the charity.
It says calls to its cruelty line rise in summer and it is worried more dogs will fall victim to abuse and abandonments as the cost of living crisis takes hold adding financial pressures to pet owners.
RSPCA dog welfare expert Dr Samantha Gaines said: “We are supposed to be a nation of animal lovers and dogs are ‘man’s best friend’ as the saying goes but in reality we receive many cruelty reports every day about dogs who have suffered the most unimaginable cruelty and a 16pc increase of dogs being cruelly treated in a year is really concerning.
“Our officers have dealt with all sorts of horrific incidents including dogs repeatedly beaten, stabbed, burned, drowned, poisoned - some have been left to die from starvation.”
Thankfully Molly has been returned to health. Vets clipped her coat, did blood tests and took radiographs of her chest to exclude metastases to her lungs.
She was cared for at the RSPCA Block Fen Animal Centre in Cambridgeshire and her mass was successfully removed following surgery.
She has been microchipped and has since found a new home where she can enjoy her retirement years.
RSPCA inspector Jon Knight said he had been following up a number of leads, but the person responsible has not been found.
Help frontline RSPCA teams rescue animals in need this summer at rspca.org.uk/stopcruelty
Shocking catalogue of neglect and abuse
The RSPCA received 1,081,018 calls to its Cruelty Line in 2021 and these included reports of:
- 1,094 killings or nearly three animals killed a day
- 632 mutilations or 12 animals brutally mutilated every week
- 7,857 beatings which equates to one animal beaten every hour
- 38,087 abandonments which equates to more than 100 animals callously abandoned every day
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