As the heat wave scorches many parts of the globe this summer, it’s always a good thing to have a refresher on the dangers of leaving your dog in a hot car.
If you are going somewhere in hot weather where your dog can’t follow, you’re better off to leave them at home.
A confrontation that took place on Sunday, August 5th between an anonymous dog owner and a small crew of concerned citizens, is a perfect example of this.
A group of worried beach-goers noticed the distressed French bulldog overheating in a parked car at Frensham Greater Pond in Surrey, England.
The owner had left him there, baking in the 95-degree weather.
One of the beach visitors, Hollie Marie Evans, took video footage from her phone of the dog, who is clearly panting very heavily in an effort to cool himself.
The Park Rangers were contacted around 12:20 p.m. about the heat-stricken dog, who was breathing erratically in the searing heat, but something clearly needed to be done right away.
The park ranger reached out to police in an attempt to alert the owner, but to no avail.
Thankfully, the owner did leave the windows cracked a few inches.
A group of the beach visitors quickly started passing water through the windows in an effort to get the poor little dog hydrated.
After roughly 40 minutes had passed, things only got worse.
The trapped dog began showing signs of heat-stroke, and as his labored breathing turned into vomiting the onlookers couldn’t watch him suffer anymore.
The owner still hadn’t been found, and so after exhausting every other option, the good samaritans decided they had to get the dog out.
They found a hammer and smashed the passenger window to pull the scared pup out of the car.
Once they got him out, it took a while for his condition to improve.
He continued to vomit after he was removed from the scorching heat of the car.
Although busting out the car window was a bold and extreme move, leaving the dog in the car very possibly would have killed him.
The park visitors took the dog to a well-shaded area nearby. They put out a large dish of water for him as they waited for the return of the owner. Their wait lasted for hours!
Finally, an entire four hours after initially trying to contact the owner, he returned to his car and what easily could have been his dead dog.
You would think that the owner would be pouring out thanks for the rescue of his companion, but that wasn’t the case.
Hollie’s video shows the escalation of the confrontation between the owner and several of the rescuers.
The owner doesn’t seem to understand why they were ever concerned in the first place and was outraged at their decision to smash his window to pull his pup from the life-threatening heat.
Hollie told SurreyLIVE,
“We waited for just over four hours in total for the owners to return. They weren’t remotely interested in the dog’s welfare and were more concerned about the broken window of the car. No thanks was given, just abuse and threatening behaviour.”
After the confrontation, the ranger handed the dog back over to the owner and gave him a reminder of the dangers of leaving animals in a hot car.
The RSPCA, an animal rights protection organization that’s been in operation since 1824, said in situations like this it’s ultimately up to the witness to decide if an animal needs to be broken out of a car.
The person needs to be aware, though, that the vehicle owner could press charges.
“If the situation becomes critical for the dog and the police are too far away or unable to attend, many people’s instinct will be to break into the car to free the dog.
If you decide to do this, please be aware that without proper justification, this could be classed as criminal damage and, potentially, you may need to defend your actions in court.”
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