Police dog left in hot SUV outrages marina staff
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/07/07/bc-rcmp-dog-vehicle.html
One of the response comment posts read said something like, as the dog is technically a police officer, the dog should charge his handler with assaulting a police officer.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/07/07/bc-rcmp-dog-vehicle.html
The RCMP on Vancouver Island are facing criticism for leaving a police dog in a hot SUV in a marina parking lot for several hours while the off-duty officer was out fishing.
Hessel Oerlemans said the dog was locked in the police SUV in front of the Goldstream Boathouse in Langford on Wednesday as temperatures soared on one of the hottest days of the year.
The off-duty officer left the windows of the SUV partially open, but Oerlemans said that was not enough to keep the vehicle cool.
"You could feel the heat coming out of the window. It was like a furnace," he said.
Boathouse owner Lita Seymonsbergen says the dog was hot and in obvious distress.
"You couldn't get near him because he was totally panicking," said Seymonsbergen.
Eventually marina staff erected a portable canopy over the vehicle and sprayed it with water to try to cool it down, before calling 911.
Police say dog okay in vehicle
Two hours later, while the off duty RCMP dog handler was still out on the water, police arrived and left with the dog.
Const. Mitch Fiddick said it was okay to keep the dog in the vehicle in the parked in the sun on a hot day because it had special training. []
"We work our dogs all the time in these kinds of temperatures — 25 degrees in the summertime. We work the dogs in 35 degrees," said Fiddick.
"There's a nice breeze blowing," he said. []
But marina staff who saw the incident say, of all people, the RCMP should know better.
One of the response comment posts read said something like, as the dog is technically a police officer, the dog should charge his handler with assaulting a police officer.
