Two police dogs in England similar to these ones, a Belgian Malinois (left) and a German shepherd, died Sunday after being left in the back of an unventilated car at the police force’s dog training centre in the London suburb of Keston for an unspecified amount of time.
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A London Metropolitan Police dog handler has reportedly tried to kill himself after two police dogs he left in the back of his car on one of the hottest days of the year died.
British media is reporting that Sergeant Ian Craven jumped from a colleague’s vehicle and later slashed his wrists when he learned that the two dogs had died. In an interview with the Toronto Star on Tuesday, the police force refused to confirm whether those reports were true.
The two dogs, a Belgian Malinois named Chay and a five-month-old German shepherd puppy called Milly, died Sunday after Craven allegedly left the animals in the back of an unventilated car at the police force’s dog training centre in the London suburb of Keston for an unspecified amount of time.
Temperatures in London on Sunday reached 29 C. The temperature inside a car can reach as high was 47 C within an hour when the outside temperature is just 22 C, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The RSPCA told the Star that officers were somehow made aware that the two dogs were in the back of the vehicle during the day. They smashed the windows, pulled the animals out and quickly doused them with water. By the time the dogs were taken to a vet surgery, they had died.
“Two dogs have died that shouldn’t have,” Police Commander Bob Broadhurst told Reuters.
Craven, 49, is now the subject of an investigation led by the RSPCA. He could face animal cruelty charges. Under Britain’s Animal Welfare Act, pet owners are legally obligated to provide good care for their animals.
This is the second time the officer — a 30-year veteran of the force — is alleged to have left animals to die in the backseat of his car. In 2004, he was reprimanded for allegedly leaving a spaniel in a baking-hot car on a July day. That dog also died.
Jan Creamer, chief executive of Animal Defenders International, said she feels for the officer in question and understands that the ordeal was “hugely traumatic,” but emphasized that the “golden rule” for dog owners is to never leave the animals in hot cars.
“While we do not doubt that this was a tragic accident, we would have thought that the Met Police dog unit should be setting an example to others, and we would question why dogs were in the car at all as there are kenneling facilities onsite at Keston,” Creamer said in a statement provided to the Star.
“Surely it should have been standard operating procedures to put the dogs in kennels on hot days.”
