While the region is still the capital of animal cruelty, some cases do have a happy ending, as Lindsay Jennings discovers

CASES of torture, starvation and abandonment continue to bolster the region's shameful record of animal cruelty, according to RSPCA figures released today.

The incidents of suffering and neglect are among the worst in the country - earning the North-East and North Yorkshire the title of the capital of animal cruelty for the ninth successive year.

The North-East area, which includes Yorkshire in the animal charity's annual figures, recorded 456 convictions last year from 18,546 complaints which were investigated.

The number of convictions is down compared with 549 in 2001, but it is still disturbing compared with the rest of the country; the North-West has the second highest number of convictions, with 249.

The charity says it is the darker ways in which people treat animals which are disturbing in the latest figures, compared with 2001 which predominantly showed animals suffering due to ignorance and neglect.

David Millard, the RSPCA's regional superintendent in the North-East and Yorkshire, said: "Every year we deal with cases that shock, but never before have we seen such a catalogue of horrifying and vicious acts of deliberate cruelty and torture towards defenceless animals.

"The fact that some of the worst incidents involve children is of particular concern. The images from some of these cases will stay in our inspectors' minds for a long time."

In one horrific case in Hartlepool, a teenager doused a pigeon in a flammable liquid and laughed as he torched the bird. A group of youths had used breadcrumbs to entice it towards them.

A vet who inspected it said it had died after suffering severe distress and intense pain.

The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was given 18 months probation, 40 hours community punishment and ordered to pay £50 costs.

RSPCA inspector Laura Glover, who investigated the case, said: "This was a horrific and very worrying incident."

Elsewhere, a female lurcher and her eight pups were found lying in a pool of blood and dirt in a flat in North Shields, Tyneside.

The dog and pups died after being left without food and water for two weeks by owner Wayne Ryder.

Ryder, of Waterville Road, North Shields, was banned from keeping animals for life and given a 150-hour community punishment order and had to pay £250 costs.

The figures also reveal that the charity rescued 677 pets, compared with 705 in 2001, which stemmed from 168,429 phone calls last year, compared with 168,360 previously.