REPORTS of animal cruelty in Bolton soared by almost a fifth last year, according to figures released today by the RSPCA. The Bolton branch of the charity investigated 900 complaints of alleged cruelty and neglect cases in 1997 - almost 17 per cent up on the previous year. In Greater Manchester as a whole the town yet again was one of the busiest areas for RSPCA inspectors.

Out of eight districts covered by the charity in the region, more than a quarter of complaints about the ill-treatment of animals came from Bolton.

And with most of the complaints concerned with the ill-treatment of rabbits, cats and certain breeds of dogs, Bolton branch administrator, Mrs Kathy Kay, angrily hit out at "big pet stores" accusing them of "selling rabbits as though they are a bar of chocolate".

She explained: "People are allowed to buy them on impulse - to keep a crying child quiet - resulting in more and more rabbits needing homes and being abandoned." She added: "It just never seems to get any better with cats, rabbits and certain breeds of dogs. The number of cats injured on our roads is getting quite horrendous.

"Several times a week we get calls from vets about cats who have suffered road accident injuries - what do we then do with them? We just cannot cope.

"I find it depressing because it means we have to say no to certain animals - we do not have elastic sides."

Kathy added that one of the main reasons she felt there had been an increase in the number of cases reported to the RSPCA was due to the ever growing number of "pet programmes".

She explained: "Pet programmes have raised the profile of our work and made people a little bit more vigilant and confident to report cases to us.

"But on the other hand, because the television highlights only priority cases, it does give people the wrong impression about us. Programmes never show the queuing and length of time it can take before we can get around to tending to the non-priority cases."

Throughout Greater Manchester, more than 5,000 complaints of cruelty were investigated - averaging out at an exhausting 500 cases per inspector. A total of 4,368 sick, injured, mistreated or unwanted animals were collected during 1997 - about 12 for every day of the year.

And according to Chief Insp Martin Marsh, the ever increasing burden has meant that a number of animals have had to be destroyed due to "lack of available space".

So far the RSPCA has successfully undertaken 101 convictions for cruelty to animals, 54 verbal warnings have been made and a further 17 adult written cautions have been issued.

The figures are revealed in the Bolton branch's 99th annual report due to be presented at the annual meeting in the Dido Suite of the Town Hall on June 3, at 8pm.

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