Overview
- In early July 2026 the RSPCA published data showing 6,322 emergency-line cruelty calls in June–August 2025 and 21,117 total cruelty reports in 2025, a 22% rise from 2024.
- Regional figures show uneven hotspots with West Yorkshire recording 268 summer reports, Norfolk 86 (a 59% rise) and Oxfordshire 47 (a 68% rise), and media accounts describe several brutal individual cases.
- The charity has launched the 'Cruelty Hurts, Love Rescues' fundraising campaign and a domestic-abuse help page that is already receiving more than 1,000 visits a day to offer safety advice and support.
- RSPCA leaders say frontline teams including rescue officers, specialist vets, behaviourists and rehoming centres are operating at heavy capacity and are urging the public to report concerns, donate and consider rehoming rescued animals.
- The RSPCA links the summer spike to longer daylight, more pets bought during the COVID pandemic and evidence that domestic-abuse rises around major football tournaments, which could drive further cruelty reports and extra demand on services.