| Thursday, July 2, 2009 |
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 I read today that two police dogs have died in a hot car at the police headquarters at Sherwood Lodge in Nottingham. Apparently the policeman concerned was not on duty at the time, but just visiting and left the dogs to over-heat in the car.
The temperature in Nottingham at that time peaked at 29.4C, enough to kill a person locked in a car! I thought that dog handlers in the police force were trained to look after the dogs in their charge; obviously I was wrong. Even a person with an IQ of -2 would realise that dogs couldn't stand those sort of temperatures, but then we are talking about the police.
I have seen numerous posters around stating "Do NOT leave any animal in a vehicle on a hot day without providing adequate ventilation". The RSPCA are investigating the incident:
"The RSPCA said it is investigating the incident. . . Nottinghamshire Police said the handler has not been suspended. . ."
No, and I don't suppose for one minute that he will be, or even charged! I think that the incident will be written off as "misadventure" or "accidental death".
A statement issued by the Nottingham Police reads:
A statement from Nottinghamshire Police said the welfare of its animals was "of paramount importance".
"We endeavour to take every measure possible to ensure their well-being and safety."
Yeah, right. Didn't do those two poor mutts any good did it?
It takes nine weeks of intensive training and costs more than £7,000 before a police dog can go out on patrol.
The maximum sentence for causing unnecessary suffering to an animal is six months in prison and a £20,000 fine. That is to you or me! It looks like it's going to be one law for them and one law for us.
I noticed on the page where I read this news that "Comments on this item are suspended". I wonder why?
I await the outcome of the inquiry, if there is one.Labels: Police |
posted by Keith at 2:29 AM  |
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| 12 Comments: |
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I heard this on the news this morning, I was disgusted bye it, a bloody dog handler that does this needs to lose his job.
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"Make way! Make way! Please can we have just THREE orderly queues - Please!"
"Over to the left - all those who hate the Police and everything they stand for, and that includes any criminal who has been confronted by a wild dog showing the symptoms of rabies (oops sorry, I meant a fully trained Police Dog)"
"Over to the right - all those mamby pampy people who regard all wild animals (including domestic pets, and that especially includes the 'lap' species like the toy miniture poodle and the aptly named Schitzer) as being superior beings to us humans"
"And in the centre we will have all those who claim to have neither made a mistake nor forgotten anything ever in their lives!"
I wonder which would be the longest queue??
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Kevin - The middle one; with me at the head!
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I am in the second group too, Kevin have you never had a pet? And I don't care what it is, you don't leave any living thing to cook alive
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I too would be at the front of the second queue. I do not hate the police, but this Dog Handler should lose his job and get a prison sentence; as far as I am concerned he is a murderer.
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I'm not qualified for any of the queues, but I've always heard that a K-9 officer's dog is his partner. At the least, this is like leading your partner to a crime scene and letting him be shot to death whilst just standing by doing nothing...
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Yes, I had a pet dog myself for many years.
She was a Collie Alsation cross, and I had her from when she was a puppy right through to her old age. She was a happy fun-loving dog, very good company, very popular with the neighbours, and almost a local mascot. And I was proud of her, and of my efforts at training a potentially untrainable cross-breed.
But she was a pet! Not the tools of someone's trade. Not the subject of training to bring out the aggressiveness of the species for a purpose. Not trained to be a robot!
To me the sad part of this case is that this Police dog was previously saved from being 'put down' by being donated to them.
And I also get the feeling that the Police response is more along the lines of 'that was £7,000 of training and welfare wasted', instead of looking at how this situation can be avoided in the future.
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I don't regard animals as being "superior to humans" as Kevin puts it, nor do I think of them as inferior. We are all just animals when it comes down to it, we are all equal and have as much right to be on this planet as each other.
So therefore we should show respect to less intelligent animals and treat them as equals, after all they have the same emotions that we have; love, hate, jealousy, anger etc., and feelings!
This the Pagan/Wicca view (and mine). To kill an animal for no reason other self-gratification is a crime. The only times you kill is if you are in a life threatening situation, your family and/or your territory is in danger, or you are starving and need food. This is the code of the wild animal kingdom too.
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I woofing well agree Keith.
Best woofs to you.
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I find it incredible that anyone with an ounce of common sense could leave dogs shut in a car in hot weather but when you thank of parents who have been known to leave babies n a similar situation it makes you wonder what goes on in some peoples' heads.
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Sandy - I'm still waiting the outcome of the inquiry into the matter, but it seems to have "disappeared" from the news on the net and the papers. Only to be expected of course.
Now if you or I had done that terrible thing, it would be headlines for weeks!
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It actually came back into the news today, 21 July. Well, on TV's Teletext news anyway. (Didn't see it though on the main evening live TV news broadcasts).
The Police officer concerned has been charged with a criminal offence, I think it was something along the lines of causing unnecessary suffering to animals.
From my recent surfing of press reports it's still unclear as to whether this officer was a dog handler or not.
Whatever decision may eventually be made in court, this copper now has a criminal record anyway.
And I think that's probably the least outcome that all of us wanted to see, regardless of our own views and opinions on dogs and Police dogs in particular.
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I heard this on the news this morning, I was disgusted bye it, a bloody dog handler that does this needs to lose his job.