Bradford remains one of the nation's animal-cruelty hotspots, the RSPCA revealed today.

In West Yorkshire and Craven last year more than 6,000 complaints were investigated with 82 prosecutions for animal abuse and neglect.

The area tops the national table and the charity is so concerned it is bringing in extra staff to tackle the workload.

Alan Wolinski, regional manager for Yorkshire, said the inspectors were so busy the area was to be split in two.

"Bradford will be covered with Halifax and Hudders-field, headed by chief inspector Derek Woodfield, while Leeds and Wakefield will be a separate area," he said.

"It is a major change in response to the amount of work.

"Year on year, West Yorkshire is the busiest of all 44 groups in the country."

The RSPCA collected 6,334 mistreated pets and rescued 173 animals.

Mr Wolinski said the figures showed little improvement in the Bradford area over the last year and the level of violence rose.

"A worrying thing is the number of violent or brutal incidents involving animals," he said.

"We really do appreciate the public's help in raising concerns."

About a dozen cases went through the courts in the Bradford and Bingley areas with half of those for people who neglected their pets.

A couple in Heckmond-wike decided a plaster would be enough to repair a cat's shattered leg after it was hit by a car.

RSPCA inspector Carol Neale visited Philip Wylie and Angela North after a neighbour contacted the charity to say the cat had suffered terrible injuries - the leg had to be amputated.

The pair appeared before Dewsbury magistrates at the end of October 2002.

They were each given a 12-month conditional discharge and banned from owning an animal for four years.

Both were ordered to pay £50 costs.

Inspector Neale said: "This cat was in terrible pain, yet that could have been alleviated if this couple had simply taken the animal to the vet."

Now named Dinah, the cat lives with her new owner, Jonathan Lang, in Oakenshaw.

He said: "She is amazing, we call her Dinah the Dynamo.

''We built her a run in the garden because we were a bit nervous letting her out at first, but even though she has three legs she races up and down."

Overall in Yorkshire and the North East, inspectors investigated 18,546 complaints, rescued 677 animals, collected 20,860 animals, prosecuted 194 animal-cruelty cases and achieved 456 convictions.

The RSPCA animal centre in Mount Street, Bradford, has 73 cats, 57 dogs and 52 other animals including rabbits, birds and even pigs, many of which need new homes.

David Millard, regional superintendent, said nationally the society was concerned about the emergence of squish videos - where a small animal is slowly crushed to death.

"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," he said.