A cat has died after being dumped in a park in a zipped-up rucksack just days before Christmas.
The RSPCA said the animal “was cruelly discarded like a piece of rubbish” in Reddish Vale Park, Stockport, on 23 December.
The female cat had collapsed and was suffering from severe hypothermia.
She was taken to a vet but could not be saved, the charity said, as it appealed for information to try and find who abandoned her.
RSPCA investigator Francesca Iraci said: “She was found collapsed and was severely hypothermic when she was taken to the vet, and also had a distended abdomen.
“Sadly the vet was unable to save her but I take some comfort in the fact she was not alone and had been shown kindness by the vets and the member of the public who found her.”
The RSPCA said animal abandonments this year had reached the highest level in six years.
The charity had more than 24,000 reports of animals being abandoned in the 10 months up to end of October.
This was up from nearly 20,000 in the previous year. On Christmas Day, the RSPCA received 241 calls and 462 reports on Christmas Eve.
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