MORE pets than ever before have been abandoned over the cold New Year period by callous owners who no longer want them.

In one incident, four tiny puppies were found in a Safeway carrier bag, which had been left hanging on a fence on the Skelton to Brotton bypass in east Cleveland.

The border collie and terrier cross breed pups were only four weeks old when they were found on the afternoon of January 2.

The RSPCA said that if they had not been discovered then, the puppies would not have lived through the night in the freezing weather.

In Middlesbrough, a young Yorkshire terrier cross-breed was seen wandering around by the Cellnet Riverside Stadium and was spotted the next day shivering at a Post Office half a mile away.

A five-month-old male kitten was dumped in a cardboard box on the doorstep of a Guisborough home on New Year's Eve.

The animals are now all being looked after at the RSPCA centre at Great Ayton, near Stokesley. Heather Holmes, of the charity, said the number of animals abandoned usually rose at holiday times, but this year seemed particularly bad.

"It is usually a case of whoever owns them cannot cope with the stress of looking after baby animals at the same time as dealing with the stress of Christmas - or they get another cute baby animal and the older one loses its appeal," she said.

"We live in a throwaway society and people don't realise the financial and practical implications of taking on a pet. They can't afford it and it becomes too time consuming, so they unburden themselves rather than rise to their responsibilities."

Anyone interested in rehoming a pet can call the RSPCA at Great Ayton on (01642) 724016.