More than 3,000 cases of animal cruelty in Kent were reported to the RSPCA last Christmas.

Figures from the charity reveal 3,123 calls were made to the organisation between December 2016 and January 2017.

That's up from 2,834 in 2015/16 (9.1%).

Scroll down for video and audio

It comes as the charity's Christmas single has been released, which plays over a cover of Stars by Lucy Ellie.

The film shows Woody the Christmas toy pup who is thrown out with the rubbish before being rescued and taken in by the RSPCA.

WATCH: The RSPCA's Christmas single. Video - RSPCA

Last Christmas the area with the most calls to the RSPCA about animal cruelty was Medway with 406 reports followed by Swale with 291, Maidstone with 269 and Tonbridge and Malling with 261.

On the other end of the scale, the area with the least reports of animal cruelty over Christmas was Tunbridge Wells with 153.

The RSPCA's Inspector Rose Russon said: "People actually abandoning animals in the lead up to Christmas is increasing.

"I think there's an increase in the number of calls we're getting because of the weather and water icing over, there's also a lack of provision around this time of year.

"Each and every one of those calls is at least one animal that's having a problem or being neglected and obviously it's quite worrying for myself and all those animal lovers out there.

"We're getting lots of dogs being kept outdoors in the cold weather at the moment."