25th June 2008

Dogs Left To Die In Car

Read more: Dogs Charity Health | Comments (0)

A man from Morecombe, Lancashire has been given a curfew order after pleading guilty to causing two dogs to suffer unnecessarily after leaving them in a hot car at this year’s Appleby Horse Fair in Cumbria.

The elderly male lurcher and seven-month-old male whippet-cross were literally cooked alive.

Thomas Graham Michael Lloyd (21) of Sunderland Drive appeared at Penrith Magistrates Court. Magistrates handed him a curfew order for five months (from 7pm to 7am) and disqualified Lloyd from transporting animals, arranging the transport of animals, or dealing in or with animals for five years.

Describing the scene at Appleby on Friday 6 June, RSPCA inspector Alison Wilkinson said, “A young boy ran over to tell me about the dogs. He led me to the car where someone had smashed one of the windows, in an effort to help.

“It really was a horrendous scene. The older dog was already dead and despite attempts to save the younger animal in the end the most humane thing to do was to put him to sleep.”

The temperature on the body of the brindle and white lurcher-type was off the thermometer – which topped out at 109 Degrees Fahrenheit.

The court accepted that the animals were left locked in the car for around five hours – from about 8am until the police and RSPCA arrived on the scene at 1.30pm.

“Leaving a dog in a hot car has the same kind of effect as putting it in a microwave. These animals suffered immensely before they died in what was a completely avoidable tragedy,“ said inspector Wilkinson. “A car is not an appropriate place for an animal to be left alone for any period of time, and as happened here, doing so can be fatal.”

In mitigation the court heard that Thomas Lloyd was devastated by the incident, having reared his dogs from a young age. The dogs were not in poor condition prior to being left in the car, and this was an unfortunate one-off incident.

Lloyd was also ordered to pay veterinary costs of £500 and legal costs of £43, payable at £20 per week.

The dangers of leaving dogs in cars:

Dogs can suffer from heatstroke, which as it was in this case can be fatal.

Even when it is just 22°C (72°F) outside, the temperature in a car can soar to 47°C (117°F) within 60 minutes.

Open windows or a water bowl make little difference.

Cloud cover can disappear quickly.

All dogs will suffer, but some dogs are more prone to heatstroke. For example, dogs that are old, young, short-nosed, long-haired, overweight or heavily muscled are more at risk, as well as dogs with certain diseases.

Temperatures in air conditioned cars can reach the same temperature as outside within just five minutes of being turned off.

• 
•