This month, the RSPCA has made an impassioned plea calling for tighter controls with better education and explanation of the law when buying an air gun; and that everyone must receive basic safety training before being allowed to walk out of the shop.

The call comes on top of stats released by RSPCA Cymru which has received 3,059 cruelty reports so far this year in Wales, with its busiest period yet to come, and cruelty complaints rising across the UK.

An example of such callous cruelty was given back in March when an appeal for information was issued after a hedgehog in Pembrokeshire was shot with an air gun.

The hedgehog was found in a garden in Haverfordwest, and concerns were raised when it was found wandering around in the day, so a resident contacted local hedgehog rescue centre Pembrokeshire Hogspital.

Ginny Batt, who runs the Hogspital, collected the poor hedgehog and found an injury on his neck/shoulder and took him to the vet where it was discovered that he had indeed been shot.

The vet believed it may have occurred around a week before and suspected it could have been a deliberate attack.

“The pellet missed his head and caught the shoulder,” said Ginny.

“There was no bone injury but the impact had dislocated his shoulder.”

Sadly, the vet recommended for the hedgehog to be euthanized on welfare grounds.

Wildlife are often the target of air rifle attacks, simply because they are out in the open with no one to protect them; and the injuries caused by such attacks are horrific and often fatal.

Figures released by the RSPCA this month, show there have already been 44,879 reports of cruelty towards animals so far this year across England and Wales up to the end of June.

This is more than two per cent higher than the 43,983 calls received during the same timeframe last year.

The animal welfare charity has now launched its ‘No Animal Deserves Cruelty’ summer appeal as it responds to this seasonal peak in cruelty.

What kind of society do we now live in where such campaigns calling on supposed human beings to be kinder towards animals and creatures is indeed a thing?! One in which we must stand up to, and hunt out such acts of cruelty and continue to be there for the animals who desperately need our help.