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“Causing unjustifiable, unnecessary or unreasonable pain to animals.”
Animal cruelty has long plagued society since humans rose to the top of the food chain. But one can only wonder how human beings, capable of thought and emotion, could ever consider harming animals for whatever reason.
In fact, even Australia, known for its passion for wildlife conservation, has alarming animal cruelty statistics, with 55,000–60,000 reports of animal mistreatment made to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) each year.
But this data only reflects a fraction of what’s really happening out there, as these are only based on what peoplesee. How about those happening behind closed doors? Clearly, we need to deepen our understanding of why it’s occurring beyond numbers before we can finally take steps to champion animal welfare and end animal cruelty.
So, take the first steps in this fight with us as we explore animal cruelty statistics in Australia in detail. Exercise caution if you have a sensitive disposition, as animal mistreatment is a stomach-turning matter.
Starting this harrowing reading are animal cruelty report statistics or instances that Australians have seen over the years and answers to questions like what animals have suffered the most and in what manner these cruelties happened.
Based on RSPCA’s animal cruelty report spanning from 2012 to 2018, the number of incidents consistently varied from 55,000 to 60,000, with 2015-2016 being the highest at 62,563. But among these complaints, finalised prosecutions only ranged from 236 to 370, suggesting that only a few were officially punished.
So, how exactly are perpetrators punished?
The degree or severity of punishment for animal cruelty varies by state. Some were only fined 200 penalty units (PU), while others were fined as high as 5000 PU and imposed a maximum jail time of 5 years. To know more, presented below is a table summarising the penalties based on animal welfare legislation enforced in each state.
Moreover, the animal cruelty reports happened in various types of mistreatment. An extensive community survey in Victoria revealed that the most prevalent types are underweight animals (visible ribs and bones) and an excessive number of animals, with cases totalling 935 and 874, respectively.
Other types of mistreatment witnessed are soiled living conditions and few records of actual killing. These occurrences are detailed in the chart below:
Source: National Library of Medicine
We can all agree that all animals deserve care and love, but some are unfortunately subjected to more cruelties than others for selfish reasons.
Dogs and cats often think of their humans as their world, eagerly waiting for commands and willingly wearing various accessories, all in exchange for treats and praise. But unfortunately, some people return these gestures and affection with cruelty.
While there are no specific statistics on the number of abused cats and dogs in Australia, it is assumed to be around the same trend as in the United States, wherein 65% of abused animals are cats and dogs.
Australia has a significant dependence on animals for sustenance, slaughtering about 28.1 farm animals per person annually—a figure that is three times the global average of 10.1. But what’s even more unfortunate is that most livestock are kept in intensive farming systems and often excluded from animal welfare laws.
Here are some cases of animal cruelty in the livestock industry.
Chicken: 635 million chickens are slaughtered annually to sustain Australia's average demand for 25 per person per year. With this number, slaughter and transport processes are often done in harsh conditions.
Pigs: Over 5 million pigs are slaughtered for meat annually in Australia using gas chambers, which are already considered the ‘best method’.
Calves: Unknown to many, dairy cows are almost consistently impregnated to produce milk. To maximise milk production, more than 2 million unwanted male calves, as young as five years old, have been killed over the past five years to harvest their mother's milk for human consumption.
Sheep: In August 2019, 14 sheep were loaded at a Victorian abattoir. Five of them were found to be debilitated, and one was dead. All the injured or compromised animals were removed from the truck alive without being euthanised beforehand, prolonging their agony.
Clearly, there’s a need for animal welfare standards in the livestock industry, encouraging only the most humane way of raising farm animals.
When we think of animal cruelty, what often comes to mind are extreme cases of violence—electrocution, kicking, and killing. But, in reality, animal cruelty comes in many, often subtle, forms. According to Arizona State University's policing guide, animal cruelty exists in the following categories:
Neglect is often overlooked but is the most common form of animal cruelty. It’s essentially an owner’s failure to provide an animal’s essential needs, including food, water, veterinary care, shelter, and emotional support.
It also covers tethering animals for more than 22 hours a day and keeping them in unhygienic and cramped spaces, restricting their ability to move freely.
You can think of hoarding as an extreme form of neglect, where individuals keep an excessive number of animals to the point that they can no longer provide adequate nutrition, veterinary care, and hygienic living conditions for them. This level of neglect often leads to starvation, illnesses, and eventually death.
This form of animal cruelty can be intentional, such as in the case of illegal breeders, and sometimes unintentional for pet owners who are struggling to make ends meet. But regardless, both are punishable by law.
Intentional cruelty pertains to acts causing the animal to suffer and die. These often include the following abuses:
Beating
Suffocation
Burning
Drowning
Poisoning
Although not frequently occurring, sexual abuses resulting in pain and permanent damage to the animal’s reproductive organs are also classified as intentional cruelty.
Organised animal cruelty is like a combination of all the other types, involving the confinement of large numbers of animals in poor living conditions and subjecting them to mistreatment for money-making schemes.
Examples of these are:
Puppy trade (Irresponsible and illegal breeding of a large number of puppies, usually pure and designer breeds)
Animal fighting (e.g. dog fights and cockfighting)
Wildlife crimes (e.g. hunting and exotic bird trade)
One way to condemn this type of animal cruelty is by adopting pets from shelters instead of patronising breeders, especially the illegal ones.
If you think you’ve seen it all, just imagine how much more pain and suffering animal shelters have witnessed as they relentlessly provide support and care for animal cruelty survivors.
Currently, Australia has a total of 370 animal shelters.
RSPCA Western Australia received an average of more than 19 animal cruelty reports a day in 2022-2023.
46.5% of dogs surrendered in shelters are unwanted.
31.4% of animal cruelty complaints to RSPCA were made in Queensland.
200,000 dogs enter rescue shelters annually.
Wildlife constitutes 30.15% of animals received by RSPCA in 2021.
In 2021-22, RSPCA Inspectors examined 53,680 animal cruelty complaints.
In 2018, more than 50 dogs were rescued from dog-fighting dens in Queensland.
If you’re hoping to start rescuing or adopting animals, although you do not have the capacity or the resources to take care of them, remember that it’s also a form of animal cruelty. Hence, it’s still best to ask for help from local councils and established shelters to rescue suffering animals.
With these upsetting animal cruelty statistics in Australia, we can’t help but wonder why. What drives people to commit such atrocities against innocent animals?
With the overwhelming surge of prices and plummeting economies, Australians struggle to make ends meet and afford basic needs for their families, including their pets and other animals. This became evident in RSPCA Western Australia’s animal cruelty report for the financial year 2022-2023, wherein regions like Albany (190 cases) and Busselton (121) experienced a spike in cases, indicating increased cost of living as a factor.
So, if you can’t afford to raise an animal in good living conditions, it’s best to surrender them to animal rescue centres or rehome them to capable families.
Approximately 70% of individuals who have experienced domestic violence indicate that the perpetrator has also abused a pet or another animal. Abusers often take hostage, threaten to harm, and use animals, such as family and guide dogs, to intimidate and manipulate the victims, forcing them to delay leaving the relationship or reporting the violence to authorities.
This, unfortunately, works most of the time, as 68% of domestic violence survivors have admitted to having delayed their escape to stay with their abuser's animals.
Australia’s rich cultural heritage and fervent passion for animal and wildlife conservation put the country in a hot seat, as some cultural practices include traditional hunting. These include harpooning and drowning of dugongs and even crushing turtles’ heads.
Consequently, Australia’s animal welfare laws are often lenient to its indigenous people when it comes to matters of animal cruelty, aiming to avoid conflicts. Although more humane methods have already been proposed for these traditions, much can still be debated over these seemingly contradictory values.
A 2015 study titled Empathy and Attitudes to Animals revealed that individuals with higher empathy levels had more positive attitudes towards animals, while those with lower empathy were more likely to express indifferent or hostile attitudes, potentially leading to cruelty.
Essentially, animal cruelty traces its roots to our lack of care towards other creatures, life circumstances, as well as our inability to take action. Remember, animals are just as special as humans. They, too, deserve a life free from violence and filled with love.
So, if you’ve witnessed any form of animal cruelty, including neglect, abandonment, and intentional harm, do not hesitate to report the incident to local authorities or through animal rescue organisations, such as RSPCA. You may do so personally or online through their Report Animal Cruelty webpage.
