The Sentencing Advisory Council will release the first ever review of sentencing for animal cruelty offences in the state on Tuesday.

It analyses data from the 10 years to December 31, 2017, and examines how many offences were sentenced, who committed them and what sentences offenders received.

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The council defines an animal cruelty offence as ‘any criminal act or omission that contributes to an animal experiencing, or being likely to experience, unreasonable or unnecessary pain or suffering’.

More than 100 cases of animal cruelty were sentenced in the Loddon-Mallee throughout the decade.

The report shows Bendigo had 49 cases, with 12 control orders issued. Control orders prohibit or restrict an offender from owning or being in charge of an animal.

There were 15 animal cruelty cases sentenced in Echuca; eight cases sentenced and two control orders issued in Kyneton; six cases and three control orders in Castlemaine; five cases in Maryborough; seven cases and one control order in Kerang; and six cases and one control order in Swan Hill.

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Victorian courts sentenced a total of 2960 animal cruelty charges in 1115 cases across the decade.

The number of animal cruelty cases grew each year from 73 in 2008 to 145 in 2017.

“Stakeholders suggested that this increase in cases is likely a result of increased community awareness of animal cruelty, greater preparedness in the community to report such behaviour, including in the agricultural sector, and improvements in the mechanisms through which the community can make such reports, especially online reporting systems,” the report’s authors wrote.

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Aggravated cruelty was the most common offence across the state, making up 739 cases, or 25 per cent. Of these, 399 cases resulted in a fine, 97 in community orders, and 53 in imprisonment.

Fail to provide treatment made up 24 per cent of Victorian animal cruelty cases; fail to provide food, drink or shelter, 19 per cent; cause or endanger pain or suffering, 13 per cent; deliberate cruelty, eight per cent; improperly load, crowd or confine, six per cent, and other, four per cent.

The report said 60 per cent of animal cruelty offenders received a fine, with an average value of $1355.

Four per cent received a prison sentence, with an average term of three months. In a third of these cases offenders appealed the ruling, half successfully.

The report also looked into the age and gender of culprits in the 993 cases where that information was available.

It found men made up three quarters of offenders – 74.8 per cent. Seventeen per cent of all male offenders were aged between 18 to 24 years.

The report found women were more likely to engage in neglect-related offending, while men were more prone to deliberate acts of cruelty.

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