I live in a rural area in Aus. I have never seen a farmer given so much as a fine for mistreatment of livestock. I've seen cattle dead and decomposing in paddocks. A few months back, some idiot rented some property, and dumped a palamino horse on it. The poor horse ran out of feed so quickly. In the end we were all giving it hay while we repeatedly reported it's owner to the RSPCA. In the end the horse got so ill, it died by itself, it's owner never turned up. A friend down the road buried it, as it was obvious no one else would.
I've seen dogs abused, cats kicked like footballs. But RSPCA dosnt care what so ever, or just cant be bothered to drive this far out. Even with the national park backing all our properties nothing is done. Latte our dog, was an abused pup that turned up on our property one day. No one ever bothered to check if we were his rightful owners or anything.
One day, the world will be a better place, but that'll be a long time in coming.
Emma