We in the UK like to think of ourselves as a nation of animal lovers, and in many cases that is true. But there are always those who unfortunately neglect or abuse animals. Recent trends have shown that the number of reported cases of animal abuse are rising in the UK, particularly in summer. This makes us ask if recent hot weather has anything to do with this. Do heatwaves cause more animal abuse?
Recent Trends
This question was prompted by a BBC news article reporting that animal abuse cases have increased ‘massively’ in recent summers. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) reports they received a 64% increase in the number of calls to their emergency animal cruelty line between summer 2021 and summer 2025 (from 3852 to 6322). An older article found an increase of around 25% in summer 2024 compared to summer 2023, with almost 374 reports every day between June and August 2024. Additionally, staff at an RSPCA hospital in Birmingham indicate many of the worst cases are related to the hot weather, including walking dogs and leaving animals outside during extreme temperatures. One vet even noted they had seen animals that had been stabbed and shot.
The charity notes overall animal cruelty calls year-round have increased too, but the figures and reports from staff on the ground do seem to point towards summer as a factor in increased numbers of animal abuse calls.
What is Animal Abuse?
The RSPCA make a distinction between animal abuse and animal neglect, but note that both are something the charity is concerned about and deals with daily. They state animal cruelty/abuse is deliberately causing an animal to suffer, while animal neglect is not providing everything an animal needs to be healthy and happy. There may be overlap in many cases and it can be hard to distinguish misplaced neglect from intentional cruelty.
In the UK, vets often consider the Five Freedoms, which detail what animal owners and keepers must do to maintain humane animal welfare. These are enshrined in law as the Five Welfare Needs, and can help identify different forms of animal abuse, though the list is unfortunately long and not exhaustive.
Freedom from Hunger and Thirst
This means always ensuring an animal has fresh water and an appropriate diet to keep them healthy. Abuse may involve withholding food or water, giving them an inappropriate diet or things known to be toxic, causing abnormal metabolic conditions such as obesity, or not feeding a dog with a specific health condition their recommended diet.
Freedom from Discomfort
This means providing an appropriate environment for an animal that is comfortable, protects them from the elements, and has the correct temperature, humidity, light, etc. for that species. Abuse may mean providing no shelter from rain or wind, not keeping them warm or cool enough, or not cleaning the environment.
Freedom from Pain, Injury and Disease
This means ensuring preventable diseases are prevented via proper hygiene, vaccination or avoidance. It also means ensuring veterinary treatment is sought if the pet becomes unwell. Finally, it means ensuring anything that might cause pain is prevented. Neglect and abuse may involve not vaccinating an animal, not checking them regularly enough to spot disease early, refusing to visit the vet when the animal is unwell, not treating them when directed, treating them with inappropriate drugs, or allowing them to spread disease to other animals. It may also mean not protecting them from harmful toxins, objects or other animals, intentionally hurting the animal in any way, or performing risky activities that may cause harm.
Freedom to Express Normal Behaviour
This means allowing animals to express natural behaviour like moving around, socialising, playing, and sleeping, and living in an environment that provides this. Abuse could mean keeping many animals in a small environment together, not taking them out for a walk or playing with them, either not allowing them to interact with other animals or forcing them to interact with others, tying them up on a lead or confining them in a crate for too long, or preventing them sleeping properly.
Freedom from Fear and Distress
Finally, this means preventing any mental suffering in an animal, generally by providing the other four freedoms, and ensuring they feel safe and protected. Abuse of this freedom may involve making an animal feel afraid by shouting or shaking them, not protecting them from harm from others, or not avoiding fears like loud noises.
Why Do People Commit Animal Abuse?
It is worth considering why people commit animal abuse. This is a difficult and sensitive topic, so please skip ahead if it is uncomfortable. The causes will, of course, vary wildly from case to case, but let’s see what some evidence has found:
One recent large-scale study in France asked over 55,000 people various questions about their alcohol and drug use, impulsiveness, relationship with their parents or children, their sense of justice, financial situation and more. The results were revealing.
The study found that 3536 (6.4%) self-reported as having abused an animal before. Obviously, people may not admit to committing animal abuse, but previous studies showed comparable levels of animal abuse, ‘delinquent behaviour’ and violence in their populations, perhaps implying around 5% of the population are prone to committing these types of crimes. They did note that other studies found higher rates of animal abuse, up to 30%, but may have been skewed by including abuse to insects and reptiles, and only male participants.
Gender was a big factor: 11.8% of males committed animal abuse compared with 3.7% of females. A history of violence was also critical, with people who have experienced a climate of violence in the family, or saw their father committing violence against their mother more likely to commit animal abuse. Similar studies found childhood neglect and violence increased the likelihood of animal abuse significantly. Those with lower attachments to their mother were slightly more likely to commit animal abuse too.
Those with a ‘callous’ personality were more likely to commit animal abuse, as were those with poor impulse control or a low belief in justice. Those who had a higher alcohol consumption were also more likely.
Interestingly, a person’s financial situation did not seem to affect their likelihood of committing animal abuse (though other studies disagree), and those with greater mental health difficulties were less likely to commit animal abuse.
The study was limited by only questioning a population of mainly university students under 30, and relying on self-reporting. The authors also note they did not question the students on other factors that have been identified as motivators of animal abuse in the past, such as curiosity, learned behaviour, or sexual gratification. Regardless, the study does seem to show some factors that could lead to a person committing animal abuse.
Studies in children find that the reasons they commit animal abuse can be linked to abuse, psychological issues or background, but may also include learned behaviour, jealousy, retaliation, for fun, dislike of the animal, lack of awareness of the harm, learning difficulties and peer pressure from others. It should be noted that most children who commit animal abuse do so infrequently and ‘mildly’ and tend to stop as they get older, with very few becoming chronic abusers. This should not excuse the behaviour, and the RSPCA encourages education of children to ensure safe and positive interactions with their pets.
A Note on Animal and Human Abuse
There is a strong link between animal abuse and human abuse, with those who commit animal abuse also more likely to commit abuse against children or partners, and vice-versa. This may involve threats, neglect, harm or even death of an animal as a way of abusing a human. Unfortunately, the presence of a pet can also make it harder for those in abusive situations to escape, due to fear of leaving the pet behind, the pet being punished for their actions, a lack of accommodation or shelters that permit pets, and lack of social or financial support to care for their pet.
Veterinary staff are taught to spot the possible signs of animal as well as human abuse, and should always consider the other when one is spotted. We are not responsible for confirming abuse has taken place, but to flag it to relevant professionals who can investigate. This may involve contacting the police or relevant organisations such as the RSPCA, Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (RSPCC) or Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS). We may also direct victims of abuse to the above organisations, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline, or Respect.
Could Heatwaves Be Leading to More Animal Abuse? Are There Other Reasons for Increased Animal Abuse in Summer?
Intentional Violence
It is hard to directly correlate hot weather and heatwaves and increased incidence of intentional animal abuse, but let’s look at some evidence for how heat affects people more generally. There are numerous studies that find increased temperature increases the risk of violence or abuse. Sex offences increased by 4.5% in the US when temperatures increased by 5°c between 2007-17, and assaults resulting in needing an ambulance increased proportionally with an increase in temperature in Japan in 2012-15. A huge meta-analysis of over 16,000 studies found a 10°C increase in short-term temperature increases the risk of violent crime by 9%.
Scientists believe this trend can be linked to increased discomfort, stress, irritability and impulsivity which raises the likelihood of negative behaviour. Furthermore, rapid changes in temperature are more likely to disrupt normal routines, cause trauma and introduce situations where violence may occur.
Given we know that person-on-person violence is directly linked to animal abuse, it seems reasonable to assume that increased temperatures and heatwaves may also lead to increased rates of intentional animal abuse. More evidence is needed to confirm this, but certainly the anecdotal evidence from the RSPCA this summer may suggest it is true.
Perhaps unrelated, but interesting to note, there is also evidence that hotter weather may affect animal behaviour, such as slowing learning in birds, increasing dog bites and causing more fights between goats and even fish. Some of these factors that affect domestic animals (mainly dogs and cats) might trigger human retaliation and violence (e.g. more dogs biting due to heat stress may result in reactionary violence from humans to protect themselves). Again, this is an area that needs more study.
Unintentional Neglect
As the BBC article indicates, many calls to the RSPCA are about neglect rather than intentional abuse, which contributed to the rise in recent summers. This summer has seen new temperature extremes, and people may take time to adapt their pet’s routines. This may mean they are unaware that the temperature for pets may still be dangerously high even in the evening, or that their water has been drunk/evaporated faster than expected. Those who notice may then report these problems at a higher rate.
People may also be stressed themselves, and unable to properly care for their animals. Many people have become ill because of the heat. It can be hard to want to move, exercise or do chores when the temperature is so high. While these are not excuses, they may explain why calls regarding cruelty have increased.
Other Reasons
The RSPCA do note that there are other factors that might explain the increased reporting of animal abuse in recent summer and generally. Overall pet ownership has increased in recent years, particularly following the pandemic. If more people own pets, then those ~5% of the population who might be at higher risk of committing animal abuse may be more likely to own a pet and commit abuse.
They note that people are more likely to be outside in summer, and thus witness cruelty. Although a lot of cruelty takes place at home, cruelty against wildlife or seeing animals left outside will be viewed and thus reported more in summer.
People may also be more aware of what constitutes abuse, thanks to campaigns from charities. Particularly with dogs being left outside, in cars or walked in hot pavements, previously these may not have been reported to the RSPCA but are now. Of course, not everyone has got the message, hence the increase in neglect calls overall.
What Can Be Done to Reduce Animal Abuse in Summer?
So, to summarise: from the evidence we have, overall animal abuse is increasing in the UK, and likely worsens in summer. We know that abuse and violence in general increases with both sudden and overall temperature increases, and thus can extrapolate that animal abuse likely does increase in summer, rather than increased reporting being the cause of increased figures. With evidence indicating extreme temperatures during summer are likely to continue, these trends may worsen and more animals are likely to be abused. What might be done to reverse these trends?
Climate Change Action
Primarily, the elephant in the room, climate change, must be addressed. This is far outside the scope of our article, but if we are to have any hope of slowing climate change, action must be taken by every individual and humanity as a whole, or not only might animal abuse worsen, but a myriad of other factors that negatively affect the lives of every one of us. We encourage you to make small changes in your life to minimise your impact on the environment (such as driving less, buying less consumer goods, and buying food locally), petition local MPs and other politicians, and support political parties and charities that support climate action.
Heat Mitigation
Unfortunately, even with rapid changes to the global system, global temperatures are likely to continue increasing. Thus, mitigation is necessary to avoid the worst effects of heatwaves. Personally, you can consider installing shutters or blinds to reduce sunlight into the house, air conditioning, or other cooling technology for the house. Changing your pet’s routines where possible, such as taking pets out at night, providing water fountains and cool blankets, or clipping their fur shorter. At a government level, support measures that grow more trees or build shaded areas, provide cooled public areas to shelter during the heat of the day, retrofit buildings to be more heat resilient, ensure critical infrastructure like electricity and water is protected, promote rewilding of the environment and more.
Education
The RSPCA and other organisations do a great job of informing the public, but regular education is critical to ensure animal abuse is prevented. As we mentioned before, children from a young age must be shown how to people care for an animal, especially during the heat. What is right and wrong for an animal should be clear to everyone. Public messaging during summer on TV, radio and social media about the dangers of heat to animals might be sensible. People should not be afraid to call out problems and help to support those who are struggling with their animals’ care. Supporting charities through volunteering or donation will ensure they continue their great work.
Avoidance of Violence
As well as helping animals, strategies to reduce violence and abuse overall in summer may go a long way. This might involve increased policing during hot weather, greater surveillance, and providing positive environments for people more likely to commit violence to visit (such as youth clubs, sports clubs, libraries, discussion groups, etc.). Providing more support for victims of violence who own pets will go a long way too, like pet-friendly shelters, more social accommodation and support networks.
If you require any support on this topic, or would like to report animal abuse, here are some helpful links:
National Domestic Abuse Helpline UK
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