A new poll by Lifeline, the insurance division of Carphone Warehouse, appears to show that people would rather lose a pet than a mobile phone.

Two-thirds of respondents said that losing their mobile would make them 'upset', slightly more than the 64 per cent who said the same of losing their pets.

The RSPCA expressed amused scepticism at the findings. A spokesman told vnunet.com that the organisation would be "pretty shocked" if the figures were accurate.

He questioned how many of the 36 per cent who said they would not be upset by losing a pet actually owned pets.

"We deal with a wide range of animal abuse, but these are a very small percentage of the population. In the vast majority of cases the British public are very caring of their pets," said the spokesman.

According to the survey, 27 per cent of people described their mobile as a 'treasured possession', and 56 per cent admitted that their phone was 'very important' to them.

The survey also claimed that women are more attached to their mobiles than men; some 69 per cent of women said that losing their phone would make them 'upset' compared to 62 per cent of men.

"Mobiles do not just contain information that it would be inconvenient or embarrassing to lose, such as phone numbers or personal text messages," said Lifeline spokesman Anthony Caie.

"Increasingly they hold items of sentimental value, such as photos, videos and music."

Further research by Carphone Warehouse discovered that 84 per cent of h ousehold insurance policies do not cover mobiles phones as standard, and almost never provide cover for calls made on a stolen mobile.