RSPCA Victoria has received 294 animal cruelty reports from Wyndham residents in a year.
Data released last week by the animal protection charity shows there were 10,180 cruelty reports made across the state in the 2016-17 financial year.
Out of the state’s 79 municipalities, Wyndham ranked eighth-highest for animal cruelty reports – in the 2015-16 financial year Wyndham was ranked 13th highest.
Out of the latest animal cruelty complaints for Wyndham, 196 of the reports involved dogs and puppies; another 47 were about cats and kittens; and 18 reports concerned horses.
RSPCA chief executive Liz Walker said many of the cruelty reports in Wyndham related to animals with insufficient food and water, or to pet hygiene, grooming and housing conditions.
Eighty-two of the notifications involved sick or injured animals not receiving vet treatment. There were 59 reports of underweight animals, 36 reports of animals being beaten or wounded and 44 notifications about abandoned animals.
But Dr Walker said that in most cases of alleged animal cruelty, concerns were quickly resolved by RSPCA inspectors educating the owner or person in charge of an animal on how to better care for it.
She said that in more serious cases, the RSPCA would send an animal’s owner a notice to comply, take an animal into protective custody or launch a prosecution.
Dr Walker said not all reports about animal cruelty were substantiated through an investigation and that others did not meet the legal definition of animal cruelty.
She encouraged pet owners who could not provide basic care for their animals to seek help from family, friends or an animal welfare group.
To report a suspected case of animal cruelty, contact the RSPCA on 9224 2222 or go to rspcavic.org/services/inspectorate/report-cruelty/.
