“ONE of the worst cases of rabbit neglect” seen in Pontypool last year was just one in the rising numbers of complaints investigated by the RSPCA across Wales.

The RSPCA today revealed its annual figures for 2014 which show a rise in the number of complaints investigated in Wales from 11,372 in 2013 to 11,740.

A shocking 1,389 of the complaints investigated last year involved deliberate and often violent cruelty including beatings, improper killing, poisoning and mutilation, the animal charity said. This was up from 1,264 in 2013.

RSPCA Cymru superintendent Martyn Hubbard said it was shocking that "in 2014 people are still being deliberately cruel".

An RSPCA inspector and her colleagues said she saw one of the worst cases of rabbit neglect in Pontypool when a rabbit’s teeth were so severely overgrown that faecal matter and hay were impaled on them in clumps. It was just one of the 7,674 neglect complaints investigated last year.

The brown lion-head rabbit, called Toothy, was found in an emaciated condition with his teeth growing out of his mouth by approximately three and a half inches. He had to be later put down.

There was no food or water available for the rabbit, and a vet was "completely appalled" by Toothy's condition. His owners were disqualified from keeping rabbits for life and ordered to pay a £110 fine and £250 costs.

More than 2,000 animals were abandoned, 896 were beaten and 458 harmed by heat exposure in Wales, the figures for last year show.

RSPCA Cymru superintendent Martyn Hubbard said: “It is extremely concerning that we are still receiving more than 1,300 complaints about animals being deliberately caused to suffer.

“Most of the complaints we receive involve animals being neglected or not receiving the right care and often we can put that right by offering welfare advice."

In total the RSPCA secured 116 convictions in magistrates courts in Wales in 2014. The number of offenders it cautioned in 2014 was 74, down by 17 since 2013. The charity said its 100 per cent success rate for prosecutions in 2013 also continued in 2014.

Superintendent Hubbard welcomed the statistics which showed the number of animal owners who were offered and accepted welfare advice increased from 4,290 in 2013 to 5,527 in 2014.

He said: “Our aim is always to prevent cruelty so it’s really positive that a greater number of people followed our advice.

“Crucially this means that although we are still receiving complaints about cruelty we are often getting to incidents before suffering has occurred and helping owners to provide for their animals, whether that means getting veterinary care for them or just giving them the right diet.

“Sadly, though, where cruelty is still happening there will be a need to prosecute in the most serious cases and it is upsetting that so many people are still mistreating animals by deliberately causing them harm or by not providing them with the care they deserve.”