RSPCA WA has revealed the State’s animal cruelty hotspots for 2024-25.
Overall, the cities of Swan and Wanneroo remain the local government areas with the highest number of complaints. The City of Rockingham has jumped from sixth to third spot with a 25 per cent increase in cruelty reports compared to last year.
When the number of reports are broken down into regions, the Perth metropolitan area and the South West continue to generate substantially more than any other (table below).
For individual regional LGA’s, the City of Greater Geraldton had the highest number of reports, with Bunbury and Albany in second and third spots respectively (table below).
Most reports concerned dogs and puppies, followed by cats and kittens, birds, livestock, and horses.
A total of 7,195 cruelty reports involving 9,230 animals were investigated across WA in 2024-25 – 57 more than the previous year.
Chief Operating Officer Hannah Dreaver said despite a modest increase in the number of reports, the scale and complexity of last year’s cases had put unprecedented pressure on the organisation.
“Most significantly, inspectors seized three times as many animals as the year prior – a rise that drove sharp increases in vet work, prosecutions, and care days at RSPCA WA’s shelter,” she said.
“The rise in seized animal numbers was a major factor in making 2024-25 one of the busiest and most complex years we’ve ever faced.
“Seized animals are often victims of large-scale cruelty such as puppy farms or hoarding and many seized animals have endured severe neglect meaning they need to stay much longer in our care than animals that are surrendered or strays.
“They generally need more intensive vet treatment and behaviour support, while our inspectors and legal team spend longer amounts of time on more complex prosecutions. All of this adds up to more pressure across the organisation.”
General abuse and cruelty were the highest category of reports received for the year, followed by insufficient care, and abandonment.
Other key figures from 2024-25
- Over 2,000 animals came into RSPCA WA’s care.
- Care days (number of animals X number of days they spent in care from 1 July 2024 – 30 June 2025) up 24%, from 116,564 to 144,261.
- Vet consults and surgeries increased 35%, from 9,074 to 12,271.
- Finalised prosecutions up from 36 to 41.
- Number of animals involved in those prosecutions up 175% from 88 to 242.
Cruelty reports metro LGAs FY25 | Cruelty reports regional LGAs FY25 | Cruelty reports by region FY25 | ||||
1 | City of Swan | 662 | City of Greater Geraldton | 212 | Perth Metro (inc.Peel) | 5,377 |
2 | City of Wanneroo | 572 | City of Bunbury | 190 | South West | 673 |
3 | City of Rockingham | 433 | City of Albany | 118 | Wheatbelt | 291 |
4 | City of Stirling | 417 | City of Busselton | 108 | Mid West-Gascoyne | 266 |
5 | City of Gosnells | 412 | City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder | 101 | Great Southern | 223 |
6 | City of Armadale | 389 | Shire of Harvey | 79 | Goldfields-Esperance | 205 |
7 | City of Cockburn | 311 | Shire of Capel | 77 | Kimberley | 87 |
8 | City of Mandurah | 255 | Shire of Esperance | 71 | Pilbara | 73 |
9 | City of Joondalup | 197 | Shire of Collie | 65 | ||
10 | City of Kwinana | 166 | Shire of Broome | 59 | ||
New Interactive Map
This year, for the first time ever, the data is shared in an interactive online report and map, which allows the community to explore cruelty reports by region, local government area, and suburb across WA.
By using the drop-down menu or hovering over the blue dots on the map, you can see the corresponding area’s total number of complaints for the year, a comparison with the previous 12 months, and a breakdown of the types of cruelty cases.
By clicking on the animal symbols, you can also explore cruelty offences by animal type, and whether numbers have gone up or down in individual areas.
