A new report by the RSPCA has revealed the Yarra Ranges to be one of the worst regions in the state for animal cruelty.
With 108 animals seized by inspectors during the 2024/25 financial year, the RSPCA Victoria’s Animal Cruelty Report has ranked the Yarra Ranges at an unenviable second place.
But, RSPCA north east region inspectorate team leader Belinda Dent said the findings weren’t a result of malicious cruelty, but rather cost of living pressures making it harder for people to care for their animals.
“The majority of what we deal with is not malicious cruelty, but neglect stemming from financial stress, poor access to feed, or personal challenges like mental health issues.
“These situations are incredibly complex, and our job is to balance enforcing animal welfare laws with helping people do better by their pets,” Ms Dent said.
This is evident through a 43 per cent increase in animal cruelty reports relating to insufficient food, water or shelter from 2023-24 to 2024-25.
Director and founder of Gladysdale-based Forever Friends Animal Rescue Saskia Adams said she’d seen an uptick in malnutritioned animals coming into the shelter.
“We have seen an increasing number of cases of animals being underfed or even starved.
“We had a four-month-old puppy come in yesterday from a country area who was just skin and bone, and showed clear signs of malnutrition,” Ms Adams said.
She said it had “definitely been rising over the last two to three years”.
RSPCA chief inspector Michelle Green said there’d been an increase in cruelty cases for horses as the cost of hay continued to rise amid a drier than usual winter.
“Feed simply can’t grow well in these conditions, making it far more expensive and difficult to source than in previous years.
“We have seen a 32 per cent increase in cruelty reports involving horses and a 23 per cent increase in the number of horses seized or surrendered this year,” Ms Green said.
This year, 1197 cruelty reports involved horses and 209 horses were surrendered or seized by inspectors this year across Victoria.
Hay is becoming increasingly scarce in the Yarra Ranges, with only small bales of lucerne and teff hay available, according to Upper Yarra Pony Club district commissioner Anite Prowse.
Meanwhile, a round bale of hay was priced at roughly $300 – up by $180 since the start of the year.
With only 28 inspectors to investigate more than 10,000 cruelty reports across the state, the RSPCA’s enforcement arm is severely limited and relies on community donations for it to run.
The RSPCA have called upon the government to increase its annual funding, as the $2.3 million directed toward inspectorate costs only covered 21 per cent of the $10.8 million forecast for this financial year.
The increase in neglected animals added more pressure onto rescues such as Forever Friends Animal Rescue and Ms Adams said they urgently needed more support.
“We are always urgently seeking more support from our local community, particularly in terms of short or long-term foster carers, sanctuary volunteers at our kennels or cattery, general volunteers and donors,” Ms Adams said.
“It is mostly dogs who are coming in with signs of neglect and/or abuse, but we are receiving an increasing number of surrender requests from horse owners who can’t afford their care, but we are at capacity.”
