More pet owners are abandoning their animals due to the recession, new figures show.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) said there had been a 40 per cent increase in the number of animals left to fend for themselves across the South East.
In 2008, there were 2,275 animals abandoned compared to 1,602 the previous year in the South East, the animal welfare charity said.
Nationally, the number of pets being dumped had soared by 57 per cent, which equates to a shocking 30 animals being abandoned every day.
Kelli Ellison, an RSPCA inspector working across east Kent, said: “We do have a lot of abandoned animals and it has increased the highest proportion of which can be put down to the recession.
She said that types of animals being found by the charity’s inspectors were mainly cats and dogs but in her part of the county, which covers rural areas around Ashford and Folkestone, she had discovered horse and even pigs.
She said the cruelty animals are subjected to by their owners never stops shocking her.
In an appalling example of mistreatment, three German shepherd dogs were found dead at a beauty spot at Wouldham near Rochester.
The adult dog was found with a broken leg, a broken back and cut injuries all over its body. Two six-month old puppies were found nearby with similar injuries.