5-year ban for man who left dogs to roast in car
A PET owner has been banned from keeping dogs for five years after two labradors nearly roasted to death in his car during the summer heatwave.
Nicholas Foreman, 58, abandoned pets Penny and Zoe inside his vehicle for three-anda-half hours as temperatures outside climbed to 29C (84F), a court heard.
The dogs developed heatstroke and two police officers were forced to smash the windows of Foreman’s sizzling car to rescue the distressed animals in June.
Foreman, a computer programmer, was taking his wife for a hospital check-up and parked in an unshaded disabled bay at 12.30pm, York Magistrates’ Court heard.
While he was inside York District Hospital, a crowd gathered around the car concerned for the welfare of Penny, aged two, and Zoe, aged three-and-a-half.
They squirted water into the car through a crack in the windows and hung blankets over the glass in a desperate attempt to shade them from the scorching heat.
Philip Brown, for the RSPCA, told the court: ‘Zoe was panting and pacing as much as she could between the rear windows. Penny was panting and barking aggressively towards people approaching the vehicle.’
PC Daniel Kirven and a colleague arrived at the car park at around 4pm, and smashed the front driver’s window using his baton.
Mr Brown said: ‘When he went into the vehicle he said the heat was overwhelming, much hotter than outside the car, and he was struggling to breathe.’ The dogs had to be packed in ice before being taken to the vets for emergency treatment for heat stroke and dehydration.
‘ Dogs are susceptible to heat stroke and the consequences can be fatal,’ Mr Brown added. ‘They cannot sweat through their pores like humans can and have a coat.
‘Their only form of heat regulation in fact is to pant.’ Pippa Carruthers, mitigating, said her client was ‘sickened by the effects of his actions’, but insisted he was only gone for half an hour. Foreman, of Bridlington, East Yorkshire, was found guilty under Section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act, which relates to ‘causing unnecessary suffering to animals by confining them in an environment that is detrimental to their wellbeing’. He was given a 12-month conditional discharge – including 150 hours of unpaid work.
Presiding magistrate Ruth Stanley banned him from owning dogs for five years, adding: ‘By that time you may be considering retirement.’
The court heard he had signed both dogs over to the RSPCA.