‘Felt sick’: Here’s why shoppers had to break a car window in a sweltering carpark
- Replies 16
On a sweltering 32-degree day in Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, a group of concerned shoppers at a local JB Hi-Fi store found themselves in a distressing situation.
The incident began when an announcement was made over the store's speaker system, urging a pet's owner to return to their vehicle.
The announcement took aback a couple shopping at the time, but they didn't anticipate the owner's delay in responding to the urgent call.
‘Obviously, my husband and staff members were very upset to hear and quite angry, especially due to it being so hot, but didn't think it would take the owner so long to go back to their car,’ the woman said.
Upon exiting the store half an hour later, they were met with a distressing scene.
A crowd had gathered around the car, including security guards, all anxiously waiting for the police to arrive.
Feeling helpless and sickened by the thought of the dog suffering in the heat, the couple decided to take matters into their own hands.
‘We put our stuff in the car but couldn't leave as we felt sick with the thought of her still being in there in such heat,’ the woman explained.
‘We asked the security guard what they were waiting for and why couldn't we just smash her out. Apparently, when the police were called, they were told they were not allowed to smash the window, which was ridiculous as far as I was concerned.’
‘I sent my husband off to buy a hammer from the dollar shop around the corner, but by the time he got back, some other concerned local had already smashed their way in and got her out.’
‘It had been AT LEAST half an hour in 32-degree heat by then,’ she said.
‘The car was turned off, and the windows weren’t cracked open even slightly. Goodness knows how hot it was in the car. A staff member from JB Hi-Fi was waiting with a container and water for the puppy, which she was very excited to have.’
The dog's owner finally appeared on the scene with what appeared to be her two grandsons.
‘I felt very sorry for the children as it would have been quite intimidating for them to walk out to a group of people surrounding their smashed-up car, but that's the position this woman put all of them in,’ she said.
‘She was in shock but tried to come up with excuses like: “She's my rescue dog, this is my third rescue dog”, to which I said: “It looks like she needs to be rescued again.”’
‘She also claimed to have had the car on with air conditioning running, which was a lie. There were quite a few people questioning her, but she didn't have much else to say.’
While this story had a happy ending, it raises important questions about the legal and ethical implications of leaving pets in cars, especially on hot days.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) ‘would definitely not recommend people to smash windows on their own’.
‘We wouldn't recommend people to break the glass because there could be all sorts of consequences of that, not just legally for the person that breaks it, but you could also injure yourself, and you could injure the animal inside,’ Kieran Watson from the RSPCA said.
‘We would always say to contact the police or the RSPCA immediately via our report hotline and just give us all the information you can, and we'll get there as soon as we can.’
He said that in New South Wales, it is not illegal to leave a dog in a car.
‘What is illegal is if that then causes suffering to an animal,’ he explained.
In a similar story, a dog owner’s act ignited a firestorm from people in Queensland after his pet was seen tied up for hours during a scorching hot day.
The incident led people to encourage a witness to report the ‘shocking’ incident to the RSPCA. Read more about it here.
Have you ever encountered a similar situation? Share your experience with us in the comments below.
The incident began when an announcement was made over the store's speaker system, urging a pet's owner to return to their vehicle.
The announcement took aback a couple shopping at the time, but they didn't anticipate the owner's delay in responding to the urgent call.
A local smashed the window of the vehicle to get the dog out. Credit: Facebook
‘Obviously, my husband and staff members were very upset to hear and quite angry, especially due to it being so hot, but didn't think it would take the owner so long to go back to their car,’ the woman said.
Upon exiting the store half an hour later, they were met with a distressing scene.
A crowd had gathered around the car, including security guards, all anxiously waiting for the police to arrive.
Feeling helpless and sickened by the thought of the dog suffering in the heat, the couple decided to take matters into their own hands.
‘We put our stuff in the car but couldn't leave as we felt sick with the thought of her still being in there in such heat,’ the woman explained.
‘We asked the security guard what they were waiting for and why couldn't we just smash her out. Apparently, when the police were called, they were told they were not allowed to smash the window, which was ridiculous as far as I was concerned.’
‘I sent my husband off to buy a hammer from the dollar shop around the corner, but by the time he got back, some other concerned local had already smashed their way in and got her out.’
‘It had been AT LEAST half an hour in 32-degree heat by then,’ she said.
‘The car was turned off, and the windows weren’t cracked open even slightly. Goodness knows how hot it was in the car. A staff member from JB Hi-Fi was waiting with a container and water for the puppy, which she was very excited to have.’
The dog's owner finally appeared on the scene with what appeared to be her two grandsons.
‘I felt very sorry for the children as it would have been quite intimidating for them to walk out to a group of people surrounding their smashed-up car, but that's the position this woman put all of them in,’ she said.
‘She was in shock but tried to come up with excuses like: “She's my rescue dog, this is my third rescue dog”, to which I said: “It looks like she needs to be rescued again.”’
‘She also claimed to have had the car on with air conditioning running, which was a lie. There were quite a few people questioning her, but she didn't have much else to say.’
While this story had a happy ending, it raises important questions about the legal and ethical implications of leaving pets in cars, especially on hot days.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) ‘would definitely not recommend people to smash windows on their own’.
‘We wouldn't recommend people to break the glass because there could be all sorts of consequences of that, not just legally for the person that breaks it, but you could also injure yourself, and you could injure the animal inside,’ Kieran Watson from the RSPCA said.
‘We would always say to contact the police or the RSPCA immediately via our report hotline and just give us all the information you can, and we'll get there as soon as we can.’
He said that in New South Wales, it is not illegal to leave a dog in a car.
‘What is illegal is if that then causes suffering to an animal,’ he explained.
In a similar story, a dog owner’s act ignited a firestorm from people in Queensland after his pet was seen tied up for hours during a scorching hot day.
The incident led people to encourage a witness to report the ‘shocking’ incident to the RSPCA. Read more about it here.
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