One horse on average, is harmed deliberately every day during the summer months - according to the latest cruelty figures released by the RSPCA.

More than 3,000 incidents of deliberate cruelty towards equines have been recorded in the last five years with summer - says the charity - revealing itself to be the busiest time for cases where people have caused a horse or pony intentional harm.

Dr Mark Kennedy, equine welfare expert at the RSPCA, said: "It is really upsetting to think that there are people out there who harm animals on purpose - and the fact that so many horses are the victims of such cruelty is just awful.

"We have seen incidents where horses have been bludgeoned to death, or have been beaten and left injured and bleeding at the side of the road.

"It is such unimaginable cruelty."

Horses riddled with maggots and flystrike, ponies left injured and abandoned and those abused by owners are among the cases that welfare experts in England and Wales have all been called to investigate.

In the five-year period between 2016 and 2020 there were 3,226 incidents of equine cruelty that came into the RSPCA, 289 of those took place last year with almost 100 of those occurring in the summer months June to August alone.

Currently, the RSPCA is receiving around 84,000 calls to its cruelty line every month with around 1,500 of those about intentional harm done to animals including popular household pets such as dogs, cats and rabbits.

But the charity says it is noticing a rise each summer in the numbers of calls, which increase by an average of 400 per month through the warmer months, equating to about 47 calls every day or at least two an hour.

The charity's Cancel Out Cruelty campaign is aiming to help fund the ongoing frontline work the RSPCA carries out each day which alongside rescuing animals who have been through trauma, also includes getting them to a place of safety and rehabilitating them.

To learn more about the campaign click here.

Escaped animals, unusual finds and news from the RSPCA can all be found here.

To read more about Kent’s furry, flying and finned friends, click here.