The RSPCA received more calls from concerned people about animal cruelty and neglect across Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire in 2016 compared with the previous year.
Below are three case studies of neglected pets from these areas highlighted in the new set of statistics from Britain's biggest animal welfare charity.
MORE: RSPCA reveals shocking rise in animal cruelty concernsCambridgshire
Three Staffordshire Bull Terriers died after being left in a hot car in Peterborough while their owner was in the gym for several hours.
The animals perished in the vehicle in June 2016 and people spotted a man dragging the dead dogs from the vehicle.
Police officers were alerted and post-mortems revealed the dogs had died from heat exposure.
A 65-year-old man from Peterborough admitted causing unnecessary suffering to the dogs and was charged under the Animal Welfare Act.
In September 2016, he was been given a 10-year order banning him from keeping all animals, an 18-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay a total of £1,900 in fines and costs.
After returning to his car following a gym session, the 65-year-old discovered two of his dogs had already died.
He tried to save the life of the third animal but could not.
Norfolk
Four underweight and neglected lurchers had to be rehomed by the RSPCA after they were discovered in a hazardous Diss flat.
Angel, Charlie, Floyd and Cassie, aged between three and four, were given new homes in January by the RSPCA after a relative of the previous owner took the pets to the vet.
A 23-year-old man from Diss was found guilty of animal welfare offences related to the four lurchers, including causing unnecessary suffering by not providing adequate nutrition and not providing for their needs with a suitable clean environment or a suitable diet including water.
He was sentenced at Norwich Magistrates' Court in November 2016 and sent to prison for six weeks, disqualified from keeping dogs for five years, and made to pay £500 costs.
Two of the lurchers had pressure sores and Charlie, who was rehomed with Angel in Loddon, had an eye defect and struggled to see.
Suffolk
A woman was fined and banned from keeping animals for a decade after two German Shepherd dogs were rescued by the RSPCA from Halesworth in Suffolk.
The young dogs, known then as Wolf and Serena aged nine months and one year, were rescued by the charity in June 2016 after they were found in an extremely neglected state, living in unhygienic conditions and covered in dried-on filth.
Wolf was found with an untreated red, raw wound around his neck caused by an ingrown collar.
A 73-year-old woman from Halesworth appeared at Ipswich Magistrates' Court and was found guilty in December in a prosecution brought by the RSPCA.
She was later given a 10-year disqualification from keeping all animals and made to pay £430 in fines and costs.
Wolf is now happily rehomed with Sandra and Alan Cutting in Thetford, and renamed Bowie. Mrs Cutting said: 'The mind boggles to think about what Bowie went through.'
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