A cheating husband left his pet dog to 'cook to death' in a boiling hot car while he visited his mistress, a court was told.James MacDonald, 42, parked his BMW in direct sunshine and left rottweiler Sasha inside the car for more than two hours.The rescue dog was spotted panting and struggling for breath by passers-by who contacted the RSPCA who alerted the police.But by the time officers arrived on the scene, Sasha was already dead
Experts said the car interior had been as hot as an Aga cooker. The
dog was found curled up under the driver's seat where she had
desperately tried to find some shade.
Magistrates at Banbury
in Oxfordshire fined MacDonald £574 after he admitted causing
unnecessary suffering. He was also banned from keeping animals for a
year.The court heard he had taken his pet dog with him when he
visited his mistress at a Bed and Breakfast in the Oxfordshire town of
Chipping Norton in August when temperatures were more than 22C.
He was spotted arriving by the landlady who then noticed the 'distressed' dog panting in the car when she left to go shopping.Paddy
Roche, prosecuting, said: 'The parking space was in the sun and it was
a hot afternoon. The landlady went past the car and realised the dog
was a Rottweiler and it was in distress.
'It was panting badly. Only one of the rear windows was open and it was open by two inches.'
The landlady called the RSPCA who in turn called the police before rushing to the scene.'A
PCSO arrived first and, with the help of the landlady's husband,
smashed in the driver's window of the car,' Mr Roche said. 'They
described the heat of the inside of the car as being like an Aga oven.'A
vet climbed inside the car and found Sasha wedged in a footwell under
the driver's seat where she had tried to escape the heat and intense
sunlight.
The window had been left slightly open and six bottles of water were found in the car, but all had their tops screwed on.
When Sasha's body was pulled out, it was so hot that a thermometer with a maximum of 42C was unable to take a reading.Even
four hours after she was taken from the car, her body temperature was
43C - five degrees more than what a normal dog her size should have
been.
A post mortem examination on Sasha's body had suffered multiple organ failure due to the overwhelming heat.MacDonald
said in an RSPCA interview that he knew pets were not allowed inside
the B&B so he had been forced to leave Sasha in the car with the
window open.
He told Inspector Will Rippon that he 'loved that dog so much' and wished he could turn the clock back.MacDonald had owned Sasha since she was rescued at the age of two-and-a-half.
Shirley
Selby, defending, said the dog's death had been caused by a 'total
error of judgement' and that he was 'completely devastated' by the
death.
MacDonald admitted a charge of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.Passing
sentence, magistrate Eileen Bussell told him: 'While we accept it was
not a deliberate act, you acted in complete negligence by not ensuring
you checked on the welfare of the dog when you were away.'
After the case, Inspector Rippon said: 'This case just highlights how important it is not to leave dogs in cars in hot weather.'They
can overheat so quickly leading to suffering and potential death. I
would encourage anyone to think twice before leaving their dog in a
car.'
- Police dog handler Pc Mark Johnson today pleaded not
guilty to killing his two German shepherds by leaving them in a car on
one of the hottest days of the year. He will go on trial at Nottingham
Magistrates' Court next February.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1226154/Cheating-husband-left-dog-die-hot-car-visited-mistress.html#ixzz0WMuysBFf
- Quote :
- Magistrates at Banbury in Oxfordshire fined MacDonald £574 after he
admitted causing unnecessary suffering. He was also banned from keeping
animals for a year
Is that all he got