A spate of animal abuse cases in Suffolk recently has led some people to conclude that the city has an unusually high rate of such crimes.

But Suffolk’s top prosecutor told a group of people from the Suffolk Humane Society this week that such a perception is inaccurate. Animal abuse cases are more likely to make the news in Suffolk, he said, because Suffolk is more likely to prosecute those cases than other cities in Hampton Roads.

“I’m an animal lover myself,” Commonwealth’s Attorney C. Phillips “Phil” Ferguson told Suffolk Humane members during a meeting on Wednesday. “I have one dog and one cat, and they’re just like children.”

Ferguson and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Susan Walton visited the group on the heels of several recent cases of cat abuse and the brutal sexual assault of a horse, the second time such a thing has happened in Suffolk in a year.

“Unfortunately, in recent weeks, we have had a rash” of animal abuse cases, Ferguson said.

If and when any suspects are arrested and tried for the cases, it’s likely that Walton will be the one at the prosecutor’s table. She has handled 90 percent of the animal cases in Suffolk in recent years, Ferguson said.

In fact, Walton told the audience of about 20, she keeps Suffolk’s animal control office on her mobile phone’s speed dial so she can keep close tabs on animal-related investigations.

“I don’t know that there are more animal abuse cases in Suffolk,” she said. “There’s more proactivity in Suffolk. We don’t hide behind it. We go after them.”

Walton explained the various types of neglect and abuse cases that come before police and prosecutors in Suffolk, adding that she could not discuss the particulars of any of the recent cases in the news because of the fear of coloring any potential trials.

She did note, however, that a large portion of the neglect cases that go to court in Suffolk turn out to be cases of “people who get in over their head with animals.”

Actual abuse cases are rarer, but they do happen, and they can be terrible, she said.

“Some just cry out for significant punishment in individual cases,” Ferguson agreed.

Ferguson told the group that stiff prosecution of animal abuse cases is important to him because people who abuse animals should be punished and also because “many of the people who abuse human beings started out by abusing animals.”

He also praised the organization for its work to help adopt out abandoned and stray animals in Suffolk, lauding its members for a recent adoption event at which 29 animals found new homes.