THE RSPCA has seen an increase of more than 300 percent in reports of cruelty against animals witnessed by children on the social media app Snapchat.

The charity is now calling for better animal welfare education in schools after the increase.

In 2015, It received 27 reports of animal cruelty after parents or their children saw videos on the app.

Last year this had increased by 155 percent to 69 complaints and so far in 2017 there has already been 119 reports, and there is still a few months left to go.

Videos posted on Snapchat disappear after 10 seconds and the RSPCA is concerned this is making people feel ‘invincible and untraceable’.

Many of the videos show less severe acts of cruelty, such as geese being chased or teenagers throwing stones at birds, some incidents are more serious.

Incidents of cruelty include a guinea pig being thrown down the stairs, a tortoise being fed drugs, a wild rabbit being hit with a log and stabbed with a pen and sheep being beaten with a golf club.

Other videos showed a goldfish having its eye cut out, a puppy being thrown into a river, a squirrel being set on fire, a fox cub having its throat slit, a cat being choked and suffocated and two chickens being beaten to death.

The RSPCA said that in 80 per cent of cases involving Snapchat, they manage to trace the person responsible and resolve them.

In most cases officer will visit the person responsible's school and speak to their parents.

Dave Allen, head of education and advice at the RSPCA said: "We're not out to prosecute these children but we'll act when we're aware of violence against an animal or any form of cruelty.

We'd prefer to educate children to ensure they understand that being cruel or causing unnecessary suffering to an animal is not funny and is wrong.

The increase in the number of these shocking videos on Snapchat shows that there's a culture of cruelty developing on these social media platforms and it’s important that we work with other agencies to put a stop to that."