OUTRAGED animal lovers have pledged more than £1,500 to help find the thug who repeatedly stamped on a dog in the street.

Offers of cash in return for information leading to the arrest of the yob have poured in from people left appalled by the horrific act.

Three Daily Echo readers have stumped up £500 each, and a further pledge of £100 was received after we revealed the ferocity of the attack in a Hampshire town which left the dog crawling “like a spider”.

One of them, a 70-year-old woman from Hampshire, who wishes to be anonymous, said: “I just thought it was absolutely awful and I thought a bit more money as an incentive might just tempt someone to come forward to identify them.”

Police are still appealing for information after the suspect was seen by passers-by dragging the frightened dog across Nightingale Avenue in Eastleigh before stamping on it five times.

The man, thought to be in his 20s, was with a woman, a crying toddler and a baby in a pushchair.

When the man, who is about 5ft 5in with olive skin and very dark eyebrows and hair and spoke with a British accent, reached the pavement, he stopped and savagely stamped on the dog’s head at least five times.

The man wore a beige jacket and jeans. The woman was about 5ft 1in and very slim.

She had her hair tied back tightly and was wearing a purple top with jeans.

The incident happened on Friday, July 13.

Anyone with information should call police on 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.