The British are supposed to be a nation of animal lovers. We spend fortunes on our pets. Television programmes featuring animals and vets attract viewers by the million. Yet it is hard to square that perception of ourselves with today's disturbing report from the RSPCA in the North East region, which includes Bradford.

It is appalling that the 798 convictions secured in the region last year, a quarter of the national total, should represent an increase of 23 per cent on the previous year. However, as with all such statistics it is hard to tell whether this indicates an actual increase in cruelty or a higher success rate by the RSPCA in tracking down offenders and bringing them to court.

Whichever is the case, it is clear that there are far too many people behaving abominably towards animals. The RSPCA is right to once again emphasise that people should not take on pets without a proper understanding of their needs and without an awareness of the commitment they demand.

But ignorance should be no excuse for ill-treatment. Often, when cruelty has occurred through wilful neglect, the punishment seems not to fit the crime - as in the case of Blackie, the Shetland pony which was found in an severely emaciated state in a garden at Delph Hill, without food or water. His owner was given a two-year conditional discharge and banned from keeping horses for five years.

Is that the sort of deterrent "punishment" to get the anti-cruelty message across? Surely the courts need to be rather tougher in defence of creatures which can't speak up for themselves.

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