to be shocked and disgusted with Nottingham Police

[wiggletastic]

who left two police dogs in a parked car to die in the heat -the heat.

This has made me boiling with rage!!!

Daisydotandgertie - how on earth do you know there is no excuse? Have you never made a mistake/misunderstood someone? You don't know the circumstances and it is wrong to be so damning until you do. What if the handler had been taken ill? What if the cooling unit suddenly stopped working? What if there had been a misunderstanding and two people each thought the other had gone to get the dogs? What if the handler had taken a phone call which was terrible news and they forgot about the dogs? Of course the handler may have been sipping a nice cold drink in the canteen - but you don't know that.

People who don't like dogs or are indifferent towards them don't become dog handlers - why would they? I can guarantee that the handler concerned is suffering more than you could ever do by writing letters demanding heads on plates.

My dog means the world to me and I can't bear to think about how those dogs must have suffered. But I'm prepared to put my rage on hold until I know the full circumstances.

The dogs were in an ordinary car, not a police car.

According to the RSPCA, it can only take 20 minutes for a dog to die in a hot car.

I can only guess that the police officer involved will be beside himself with grief.
He will be torturing himself with how they died.

.

Out of curiosity, what is the law here regarding situations like the above? In Queensland you are can break into a car to rescue children or animals you think are in danger without the fear of prosecution. Is it the same here?

There is something called 'agent of necessity' which would mean that if you had serious concerns about an animal or child you could break in. The owner of the car may still take you to court but you'd probably get away with it.

Thanks melmog. There is a hotline you can ring to the RACQ (like AA or RAC) that is for locked kids in cars etc too but I think breaking a window would be much more beneficial.

Hopefully something good can come of the exposure this story has got and people will think twice before leaving their dog in the car while they pop in somewhere.

V. good post Catwalker.

I'd be pretty scared breaking into a car full of police german shepherds though!