ANIMAL cruelty complaints investigated by the RSPCA have risen, with five new cases looked into in Wiltshire every day.

Inspectors were called out to 1,773 complaints in 2017, up 69 cases from 1,704 in 2016.

One Wiltshire man was banned from keeping animals for life after he admitted killing one dog and attacking another by giving her what was believed to be a chemical burn on the back of her neck.

The man was handed a 12-week consecutive prison sentence for each offence, suspended for two years and 150 hours of unpaid work.

The charity also highlighted a national equine crisis, with nearly 1000 horses rescued by the charity from cruelty and neglect in 2017.

There are still 880 horses in the charity’s care and over 80 calls were received each day about horses in 2017.

In Wiltshire in 2017, the RSPCA received 219 complaints about 151 horses.

The RSPCA’s inspectorate national equine co-ordinator Christine McNeil said: “Up and down England and Wales, horses are being found sick, dying or sometimes dead. It is frequently the case that they have been abandoned and left to die. This is upsettingly very common and it’s a massive issue - a very sad one at that.

“We are constantly receiving calls to our cruelty line - on average 80 per day about horses alone across England and Wales - as well as messages every day on social media from very concerned and upset people asking for our help.”

The charity spends £3m a year to care for horses and saw the highest number of horses taken in by the charity for four years.