Couple save dogs locked in hot car (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Couple save dogs locked in hot car

2:43pm Friday 11th July 2008

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)

QUICK-THINKING shoppers had to smash the window of a car to save two dogs that were trapped inside the locked vehicle on a hot summer afternoon.

Phil and Alison Svejnoha made the shock discovery when they went to pick up their son from the Booths supermarket car park in Kirkby Lonsdale, last Friday.

Full story and more...

in The Gazette

“Two bull terrier-type dogs were trapped in a car with all of the windows wound right up. It was a very hot day so we decided we had to try to find the owner to get the dogs out,” he said.

“My wife went into the supermarket to get them to put a message out on the tannoy but they did not have one so she went to every checkout to ask if anyone knew anything.

“Eventually another group of people got involved outside and we all decided we could not wait any longer or the dogs would be dead, so one of the others put a brick through the window and got them out.

“When the owner arrived she was upset about her windows and even when we explained what had happened you could tell she was still miffed. She must have been in Booths for about 30 minutes.”

Spokesman for the RSPCA in the North, Leanne Goacher, said: “The RSPCA is not aware of the circumstances surrounding what happened here. However, in our view cars are not appropriate environments for dogs to be left in for any prolonged period of time.

“Temperatures inside rise very quickly, even on cloudy days, and the RSPCA has dealt with many cases where leaving a dog in a hot car has proved fatal. It has the same effect as putting your pet in a microwave, literally cooking it to death.

“Owners are now legally obliged to provide for all of their animals’ needs, and failing to do so is an offence.”

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)