Police Dogs Die In Car

[Kody's_Mum]

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/polic...0-1225833229849

Police dogs die after left in car boot

From correspondents in London From: NewsCore February 23, 2010 1:32AM

A POLICE dog-handler left his two devoted German shepherds to bake to death in the back of his car when he became distracted by paperwork, a British court heard.

The Sun reports Constable Mark Johnson, 39, was suffering from depression and obsessive compulsive disorder which led him to forget his dogs on June 30 last year, it was said.

He returned to his car to find seven-year-old Jet and Jay-Jay, 18 months, lying dead in the trunk.

RSPCA prosecutor Paul Taylor told Nottingham Magistrates' Court that "Jet and Jay-Jay suffered excruciating pain when their handler PC Johnson left them in the boot of his private car".

"PC Johnson's usual routine would have been to have transferred them to a police vehicle which had an air cooling unit but he did not transfer them and went about his business," Mr Taylor said..

"He had some paperwork which needed to be done and by the time he realised what had happened, seven hours had passed and he went out and realised the dogs had died.

"PC Johnson had always been devoted to animals and his dogs in particular - who would have saved his life or got him out of tricky situations on operations in the past.

"I can find no evidence that he harboured any malice towards his dogs or that he would have wished to harm them, but he made an error which nevertheless had fatal consequences for the animals.

"His failure in this case is an aberration of his normal high standards. However his actions had catastrophic consequences for the two dogs in the car."

The RSPCA alleges Johnson unnecessarily confined his dogs "in an environment that was detrimental to their wellbeing".

He denies the charge.

The deaths happened on one of the hottest days of the year, when temperatures reached 29.3C.

Mr Taylor told the court that because dogs cannot sweat, the two German shepherds would have been panting to try to reduce their body heat.

This would have left them severely dehydrated.

Eventually they would have suffered severe kidney damage and cerebral haemorrhage.

The dogs could have died within 20 minutes.

RIP Jay-Jay and Jet.

[redangel]

"PC Johnson's usual routine would have been to have transferred them to a police vehicle which had an air cooling unit but he did not transfer them and went about his business," Mr Taylor said..

"He had some paperwork which needed to be done and by the time he realised what had happened, seven hours had passed and he went out and realised the dogs had died.

"PC Johnson had always been devoted to animals and his dogs in particular - who would have saved his life or got him out of tricky situations on operations in the past.

I am thinking 'boot' means perhaps rear of stationwagon in Britain????

What a fatal choice for a person so 'devoted' (loosely used) to make.

Sounds like these heroic dogs sufferred terribly and were let down by the person they defended with devotion.

[Parkeyre]

Will he be charged like a normal person? I hope so.

[Snoopy21]

That's so sad . Those poor dogs - what a horrible way to die.

That man must feel just awful about it. I have had brain farts before in my life but thankfully none of them have resulted in a death.

[persephone]

I hope the policeman is being treated for his depression and whatever else led to this .

R I P poor dogs.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Surely they would have been screaming in pain? This happens too often, these people need serious help. Perhaps vehicles that are used for carrying working animals need to be fitted with some sort of alarm.

[nellbell]

Surely he would have known of the procedure for carrying working dogs (transferring them to the other vehicle). How could he forget them for 7 whole frickin hours, jeezus, 10 mins maybe to do something before he forgot, but 7 hours......sheeeesh if he is that forgetful, what could happen when he is sent out on a job, he might forget where he is going, who he is supposed to be arresting, what street the crime is in........and he was still active in the force!!!!!! oh my god . Poor poor doggies, you did not deserve that,

[poochmad]

Poor dogs, what a terrible and painful way to go. I too, feel sorry for the man himself if he was devoted to the dogs, imagine how terrible he must feel to have done this to dogs that he (supposedly) cared about? The fact that he suffers from depression is not going to be helped by the fact that his dogs have died through his actions.

I agree he should be charged, regardless of whether he's a cop or had psychological problems.

[CheekyMonkey]

Oh my, I hope he does get some cruelty charge, he probably wont though, seriously don't know how he could 'forget' the dogs as well he would have had to put them in when say left home and doubt it was several hr drive to work. If it was a stationwagon well obviously he should have seen them when walking past otherwise who sticks a dog in the boot of a sedan!

[teekay]

So sad, those poor poor dogs

[Jed]

Surely they would have been screaming in pain? This happens too often, these people need serious help. Perhaps vehicles that are used for carrying working animals need to be fitted with some sort of alarm.

No, animals which perish from heat stroke usually do it quietly.

And they were IN THE TRUNK!!!?? Boot = trunk, so no one would have seen them at all.

Edited February 25, 2010 by Jed

[Ravyk]

Surely they would have been screaming in pain? This happens too often, these people need serious help. Perhaps vehicles that are used for carrying working animals need to be fitted with some sort of alarm.

No, animals which perish from heat stroke usually do it quietly.

And they were IN THE TRUNK!!!?? Boot = trunk, so no one would have seen them at all.

I'd assume they mean the boot of a wagon.

RIP police dogs

[Clyde]

Poor dogs. Sounds like an awful accident. I'm sure the officer has been punished enough just by knowing that his dogs died slowly. I hope the law doesn't get too wound up over it when there are far more heinous crimes towards animals which are overlooked.

[labsrule]

How terrible, those poor poor dogs, what a sickening way to die . I hope he feels the full weight of the law for this awful awful oversight. It was his job to be responsible for those dogs and he let them down in a most terrible way I don't have any sympathy for him as I am so sick of all the excuses under the sun being trundled out to excuse a person's "criminal" behaviour - take responsibility for your actions (or lack thereof) ;) RIP doggies, you deserved so much better

[Fit for a King]

I have trouble understanding some posters who seem to think because he was a cop and depressed he deserves sympathy. If it were your neighbour or Joe Bloggs down the street everyone would be baying for blood (and rightly so) - his occupation and state of mind (unless he was so psychiatrically ill he couldn't appreciate his actions) should be irrelevant, he had a duty of care and he failed badly. End of story. If he was that psychiatrically ill what the hell were they thinking leaving the dogs in his care? It smacks of double standards.....

[newfsie]

Just too sad.......