These stories have drawn community responses on social media and website comment sections, centred on vows of violent retribution and calls for serious jail terms.

While unimaginably inhumane, the stories were just an addition to a long-running and never-ending animal cruelty narrative.

What leads any person to mistreat or torture an animal is beyond comprehension.

Yet magistrate court lists will reveal a constant load of cases where people have either been negligent or just plain barbaric.

And if the RSPCA, after much effort, does manage to bring such cases to court, offenders can largely expect a fine as small as a couple of hundred dollars, a suspended sentence and a sanction on animal ownership.

The maximum penalty for aggravated cruelty in Tasmania carries a $26,000 fine and an 18-month jail term but has not yet been enforced.

The recent case of former North-West farmer Roderic Neil Mitchell came close to this penalty until his jail term was reduced on Monday from 15 months to 12, with a parole period of six months.

Mitchell had appealed against 140 animal cruelty convictions which related to his time running a Redpa farm between 2007 and 2009 where almost 200 cows were found to be malnourished or neglected.

The case last year found that at one point, his cows were dying at a rate of one a day, compared with the industry standard of up to five a year.

While Mitchell's appeal was dismissed this week, his original sentence was found to be "grossly excessive" and was reduced three months.

Perhaps magistrates need more scope to impose harsh sentences for instances of excessive and prolonged cases of animal cruelty, so the punishment is seen to fit the crime.

Then there may be more opportunities to stop horrific cases of animal cruelty.