Words fail me

[Knipples]

A police officer could be prosecuted after two German Shepherd dogs died when they were left in a private vehicle in hot weather

The RSPCA can prosecute the officer if they believe he or she broke the law by leaving them in the car park of Nottinghamshire Police headquarters in Arnold when the officer went inside.

On Tuesday, temperatures reached 29.4C (84.9F) in the city, one of the hottest days so far this year.

Animal charities warned owners it only takes 20 minutes for a dog to die in a car parked in the sun as temperatures inside can exceed 40C.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090702/tuk-police-dog-handler-could-face-prosec-dba1618.html

As the title says, words fail me at times like this, I struggle to put my feelings into sentences because it makes me so very angry.

How the hell can this sort of thing happen, and why the hell did he leave them in the car, apparently just yards from the kennels.

The news report on BBC yesterday said they had sat in the same spot with their thermometer and the temperature had gotten up to 48 degrees :'(

I really hope there isnt some sort of cover up here, and the RSPCA throw the book at the officer concerned.

[Briggykins]

They leave them in the car at our HQ too, with the boot open parked under shade. It's just so they can get to any incident requiring the dog more quickly than getting them out of the kennels and securing the car. However, not sure if they'd do it on days as hot as that one was. Does seem like a disaster waiting to happen.

[Matblack]

Seems like a bit of a freak occurance, police dog handlers are very close to their animals and they live at home with them, it must have been some pretty odd circumstances that they would forget about them and leave them in a closed car. That doesn't excuse the persons actions and I believe they should be prosecuted and moved away from the dog handling unit. My understanding is that the officer was off duty and the animals were in his own car but parked at the station when he had popped in and been delayed possibly forgeting the dogs, totatally unforgivable but also to some extent understandable. The papers will run pages and pages of moral indignation when what happened was a tragic mistake.

MB