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RCMP warn leaving pets in hot cars is a crime

May 30, 2018 | 8:00 AM

Mounties from the local detachment hope residents don’t leave their pets in their vehicles this year as temperatures start to rise over 30 Celsius. 

“A hot car is no place for a dog or any pet for that matter,” Staff Sgt. Darcy Woolfitt with the Battlefords RCMP said. “Every year we hear of a pet being left in distress because someone didn’t take time to think as they left their vehicle.”

Recent research shows that a dog can withstand a body temperature of 41 C for only a short time before suffering irreparable brain damage or even death. Even in the shade with the window down a crack, temperatures in a vehicle can reach a level high enough to kill your pet very quickly.

Woolfitt added anyone caught leaving an animal in an overheated car could face a charge with fines under Saskatchewan’s Animal Protection Act or depending on the circumstances there could be charges under the Criminal Code.

If you should see an animal in distress, Woolfitt said your first course of action would be to contact the Community Safety Officers who would attempt is to contact the owner of the vehicle and to have the doors unlocked immediately. If that’s not possible and if time permits, he added officers may call a tow truck to force the doors open.

He also stressed that taking actions into your own hands and breaking a car window open to get air to an overheated animal is against the law.

“Under no circumstances are you to attempt to break any windows when it comes to animals in distress,” he added. “I love dogs as much as the next person and I know this is a very touchy subject for pet owners but the rule of law still applies.”

If you see an animal in this situation you are asked to contact the RCMP, the Community Safety Officers or the Battlefords Humane Society.

 

roger.white@jpbg.ca

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