A Norfolk horse charity is appealing for support as demand for its service increases.

World Horse Welfare, which has a centre in Norfolk, has issued an emergency appeal for cash to help care for a growing number of animals which need urgent care.

The charity has started installing fences and pens at Hall Farm, Snetterton, which has rescued multiple groups of eight, four and three horses in recent months.

The modifications, which the charity also wants to install at its other three centres, will help Hall Farm receive future large groups quickly and safely to try to keep pace with the demand for its help.

A spokesman said that between January and the end of August the number of horses brought in to the charity's centres had risen by 23pc.

Welfare concerns from the public are on the rise too as calls to its UK welfare line have increased by more than a quarter.

The charity's nationwide team of Field Officers have investigated 14pc more welfare concerns than this time last year.

Assisting other organisations with horse welfare concerns has increased by 8pc.

There is also a 16pc rise in cases which are prosecutions compared to 2012 and almost half of the horses taken in this year are the subject of prosecutions.

Horses were still being bred on a large scale and continued to be imported from Ireland and the continent, despite there being no market for them.

With breeders finding they could no longer sell their assets for a high price, the charity was seeing hundreds of horses left to fend for themselves.

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