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UK knife epidemic: Dozens of animals stabbed each year

This file photo released on the website of the Sky News reportedly shows a dog, apparently stabbed in the head, found in a suitcase in northern England last year.

A new report by Britain’s top animal charity group shows violent criminals in the country are increasingly using knives to brutally end the lives of defenseless creatures.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) said on Sunday that the charity, which promotes the welfare of animals in England and Wales, had received more some 140 calls last year about animals being attacked with blades.

The shocking figure comes amid a surge in knife crime on the streets of Britain as more and more people are being targeted and killed in unprovoked attacks in large cities like the capital London.

RSPCA’s Dermot Murphy said the charity has been receiving an average of three calls a week showing animals had been stabbed.

“The country has been horrified by the tragic toll that knife crime is having on young people in our towns and cities,” said Murphy, adding, “Sadly, we are seeing far too many shocking incidents of blades also being used on animals.”

RSPCA's 24-hour cruelty hotline received a total of 420 calls between 2016 and 2018 related to injuries to animals caused by knives. A worst case reported last year was about a dog found stuffed into a suitcase in Halifax, north of Manchester, after it was stabbed in the head.

“Despite appeals for information, we have not found those responsible for these brutal attacks. It appears in some of these cases that they are random attacks made on animals and in others,” said Murphy, adding the figures about stabbing animals were “a shocking representation” of what is happening on the streets of Britain nowadays.

Some 48 people have been stabbed to death this year in the UK. Authorities recorded a total of 285 of homicides involving knives in the year to March 2018, the highest number of such cases since records began in 1946.


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