RSPCA investigators tracked almost 60 animal cruelty cases a week in Cheshire last year.

A worrying total of 2,929 investigations also resulted in 13 abusers convicted of 26 offences in the county in 2015.

Recent Cheshire cases include a Chester aircraft fitter who drowned his own cat and an Ellesmere Port man who slit a dog’s throat.

The charity has released its annual report of animal cruelty statistics on Wednesday (March 23).

Figures down on last year

Nationally the number of cases fell from by more than 15,000 from 2014 to 2015.

RSPCA assistant director of the inspectorate Dermot Murphy said: “It is encouraging that some of the figures are down on last year and that the numbers of complaints being dealt with by education and advice are going up, as we would always much rather improve animal welfare by giving advice to owners if at all possible.

“Yet even if some of the overall numbers are lower, the level of depravity we have seen in 2015 cases are up there with some of the most extreme we have ever known.”

The Cheshire total is the equivalent of 28.2 investigations for every 10,000 people living in the county, a figure which is higher than the national average rate of 24.5 per 10,000.

While the number of investigations fell by 6.7% from 2014 to 2015, the amount of convictions dropped sharply from 54 to 26.

Across the whole of England and Wales the charity conducted 143,004 investigations into animal cruelty in 2015 resulting in convictions to 754 people.

Dogs the most abused animal

The RSPCA also revealed almost 57% of complaints investigated in 2015 were about dogs, compared to just below 24% about cats - the second most abused pet.

Mr Murphy said: “People think of dogs as man’s best friend but these statistics tell a different story.

“They are by far the most abused animal in this country and we investigate more complaints related to them than any other species.

“The stories we are telling today show a snapshot of the horrific level of cruelty we have seen in the last year, which have to be some the most extreme cases I have ever heard of.”