The animal welfare charity was inundated with hundreds of
complaints over the weekend from people who spotted animals suffering as the
temperature rocketed to 90 degrees in some parts of the country.
Around 70 calls about animals trapped in hot cars in the
South East came into the RSPCA’s National Control Centre over the weekend of
6-7 July.
We also received a further 280 calls across the rest of
England and Wales, and unfortunately the heat wave also claimed a number of
lives across the country.
A seven-year old female
Staffordshire bull terrier died after being left in a car outside a pub while
the owners had Sunday lunch (7 July) in Bradford, West Yorkshire. A woman and
two men have been interviewed.
In another incident, a two-
year old Rottweiler cross was pulled dead out of a hot car outside their
owner's home in Bury, Greater Manchester. The RSPCA attended after a call from
police just after 6pm on Sunday (7 July). A woman has been interviewed.
RSPCA chief inspector Dermot Murphy: “The death of those
dogs was an avoidable tragedy. Leaving a dog in a hot car has the same kind of
effect as putting it in a microwave. They are literally cooked alive, in what
is a horrendous death.
“People just aren’t listening. Leaving a window open simply isn’t
enough, and in-car temperatures rise quickly, even if it’s cloudy.”
“What people need to realise is that the next animal to die
in a hot car, conservatory or outbuilding could be their pet - that’s how
serious this is.”
All too often, owners make the mistake of thinking it is
sufficient to leave a bowl of water or a window open for their pet but this is
not enough to protect them from heatstroke, which can have fatal
consequences. Even a hot garden without
shade can be disastrous for an animal.
As an example, the temperature inside a vehicle can soar to
47 degrees within 60 minutes when the outside temperature is just 22 degrees.
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