By Alex Kirby BBC News Online environment correspondent

The number of convictions for violence to animals in the UK rose in 2002, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) says.

The legacy we leave generations to come may depend on whether we tackle the problem of extreme violence now John Rolls, RSPCA

It fears we could gradually come to accept such violence as normal.

The year saw the first "squish" videos of small animals being deliberately killed.

The society is worried that some of the worst incidents recorded involved children.

The year did see a fall in the number of prosecutions for cruelty, from 736 in 2001 to 699. There were fewer telephone calls to RSPCA centres, and complaints of alleged cruelty investigated fell from 123,156 to 114,004.

But the number of prison sentences imposed on offenders rose from 46 to 57.

Killing for kicks

The society says: "Although the majority of cruelty cases are still classified as neglect, the RSPCA is concerned at the growing amount of violence to animals up and down the country... in cases prosecuted by the society between September and December 2002, one in 10 people were convicted as a result of a violent action on an animal."

Some of the more glaring cases include:

• a dog in Wales shot in the head 13 times with an airgun, then slashed with a 10-inch knife
• a small Alsatian cross whose eyeballs were ruptured with a sharp object. Its attacker broke its jaw and threw it into a canal
• one cat thrown from a seventh-floor window, which died in its rescuer's arms, and another hanged from a railway bridge with shoelaces
• a hedgehog and a badger which were deliberately set alight.

Blinded and dumped in a canal

Another new development is "burn" videos, of small animals suspended over a flame being gradually burnt to death. A much older crime, dogfighting, led to seven convictions in 2002.

The society says animals neglected, abandoned or left to die are "still all too common". One was a 14-year-old bearded collie who had almost 10 kilograms of severely matted fur removed - probably three years' growth.

In 2002, 15 juveniles were prosecuted, up from 11 in 2001. One was a 16-year-old youth who stabbed a kitten to death and then did press-ups on its throat with a broom handle because he thought the animal "didn't like him".

Seeking to understand

Another, two years younger, stabbed his dog in the neck after being told he could not keep her at home.

Some cruelty results from negligence

He said: "If I can't have the dog, then no-one else is going to have the satisfaction of having her."

John Rolls of the society said: "The RSPCA fears that if this level of violence goes unchecked and is ignored by society, many more may cite cruelty as 'normal behaviour' in future.

"The legacy we leave generations to come may depend on whether we highlight and tackle the problem of extreme violence now."

The society has begun a pilot project which works with young offenders who have harmed animals to try to understand their motives.

Images courtesy and copyright of RSPCA