Dogs in cars on hot days

Howlin

Hi all,

Recently there has been a lot of news stories of people leaving dogs in the car with no water and the window is fully up.

If I was walking past a car and saw that happening with the owner of the car nowhere in sight, is it legal to break the car owners window to rescue the dog?
If it isn't legal, do you think you would be prosecuted for helping the dog?

Regards,
Stephen

MarkAnthony

It's not legal, it's criminal damage, but you'd have a bloody good defence.

Bear in mind anyone can arrest, without warrant, anyone whom they believe to be guilty of criminal damage so if you were going to hypothetically do something like this you'd hypothetically need to be prepared to hypothetically hang around/go to the guards with the owner of the vehicle.

cocker5

Howlin wrote: »

Hi all,

Recently there has been a lot of news stories of people leaving dogs in the car with no water and the window is fully up.

If I was walking past a car and saw that happening with the owner of the car nowhere in sight, is it legal to break the car owners window to rescue the dog?
If it isn't legal, do you think you would be prosecuted for helping the dog?

Regards,
Stephen

First off - what idiots - don't deserve to own a dog :mad:

Best thing you can do is call the police ask their advice, many times they will come out and break the window themselves... or call the local dog warden (although the dog would be long gone by the time they would come out)

if you did break the window.. do i think a judge would do you for it? in Ireland probably


http://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/horror-phoenix-park-after-dog-11452881

Sam Kade

cocker5 wrote: »

First off - what idiots - don't deserve to own a dog :mad:

Best thing you can do is call the police ask their advice, many times they will come out and break the window themselves... or call the local dog warden (although the dog would be long gone by the time they would come out)

if you did break the window.. do i think a judge would do you for it? in Ireland probably


http://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/horror-phoenix-park-after-dog-11452881

They didn't come out last week to a baby that was left in a car and here we call them Gardai.

cocker5

Sam Kade wrote: »

They didn't come out last week to a baby that was left in a car and here we call them Gardai.

Here... gardai?? I was born "here" as you put it.. i can still call them the police.. (ignorant much :rolleyes:)

anyway OP depends on what station you call i suppose but I would call them first and see what they say.

hullaballoo

Just don't call them constable.

MarkAnthony

hullaballoo wrote: »

Just don't call them constable.

Unless they've had a Brazilian?

Sam Kade wrote: »

They didn't come out last week to a baby that was left in a car and here we call them Gardai.

cocker5 wrote: »

Here... gardai?? I was born "here" as you put it.. i can still call them the police.. (ignorant much :rolleyes:)

anyway OP depends on what station you call i suppose but I would call them first and see what they say.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAHR1tk5xvU

seamus

According to the Criminal Damage Act, you have a lawful excuse to damage property

(c) if he damaged or threatened to damage the property in question or, in the case of an offence under section 4 , intended to use or cause or permit the use of something to damage it, in order to protect himself or another or property belonging to himself or another or a right or interest in property which was or which he believed to be vested in himself or another and, at the time of the act or acts alleged to constitute the offence, he believed—

(i) that he or that other or the property, right or interest was in immediate need of protection, and

(ii) that the means of protection adopted or proposed to be adopted were or would be reasonable having regard to all the circumstances.

In this case the dog would be classified as "property belonging to another". So to damage a window in order to prevent injury or death of the dog would be a lawful excuse.
Also;

(3) For the purposes of this section it is immaterial whether a belief is justified or not if it is honestly held.

Which basically means that if the owner said, "I was only in there for five minutes" or "I left the AC on in the car", that doesn't really matter so long as the person causing the damage honestly believed they were doing the right thing.

Not being guilty of a criminal offence however doesn't exclude the ability of the vehicle owner to sue for the cost of the window.

mahoganygas

I found a puppy left alone in a car for about 40 minutes. I was considering breaking the window but luckily there was a garda station nearby.
I went down and reported it. The Sergent behind the desk personally went down to the car straight away. I reckon he was a dog owner himself. Lovely guy. He said he would wait 5 minutes before breaking in, then sent me on my way.

I asked him what would happen if I had broke the window. He shrugged and said the 'victim' would be lucky to find a witness willing to say they saw me and other than that it's my word against his. I got the impression he was saying nothing would come of it, without actually saying that.

Discodog

The problem is that a dog can die of heatstroke in minutes. If the dog can't stand or sit then I would smash the window. You are preventing animal suffering & cruelty.

I used to work in England & often took the dog with me. I made up a laminated sign to say that I was nearby & checking the dog frequently. If I hadn't of done that someone would of reported me.

If you are going to break in would it be a good idea to call the Guards & tell them ? Would that mitigate an unlikely charge ?

usernamegoes

MarkAnthony wrote: »

Bear in mind anyone can arrest, without warrant, anyone whom they believe to be guilty of criminal damage so if you were going to hypothetically do something like this you'd hypothetically need to be prepared to hypothetically hang around/go to the guards with the owner of the vehicle.

Only if the offence they are arresting you for is an arrestable offence? 5 years or more if convicted.

It's been a while but that's my recollection.

MarkAnthony

usernamegoes wrote: »

Only if the offence they are arresting you for is an arrestable offence? 5 years or more if convicted.

It's been a while but that's my recollection.

Certain statutory offences make an exception in the statute, this is one - probably a public utility argument.

stoplooklisten

mahoganygas wrote: »

I found a puppy left alone in a car for about 40 minutes. I was considering breaking the window but luckily there was a garda station nearby.
I went down and reported it. The Sergent behind the desk personally went down to the car straight away. I reckon he was a dog owner himself. Lovely guy. He said he would wait 5 minutes before breaking in, then sent me on my way.

I asked him what would happen if I had broke the window. He shrugged and said the 'victim' would be lucky to find a witness willing to say they saw me and other than that it's my word against his. I got the impression he was saying nothing would come of it, without actually saying that.

I had the opposite experience. I reported a dog struggling in a car to the gardai and they laughed at me. Nothing they could do. 20 mins later the dog was dead.


Well done tipperary garda and the owner of that beautiful dead red setter.

jonon9

stoplooklisten wrote: »

I had the opposite experience. I reported a dog struggling in a car to the gardai and they laughed at me. Nothing they could do. 20 mins later the dog was dead.


Well done tipperary garda and the owner of that beautiful dead red setter.

That's awful if a Garda laughed at me for saying that I would have smashed the window anyway. Dying of heat isnt a very nice thing im sure.

Discodog

stoplooklisten wrote: »

I had the opposite experience. I reported a dog struggling in a car to the gardai and they laughed at me. Nothing they could do. 20 mins later the dog was dead.


Well done tipperary garda and the owner of that beautiful dead red setter.

I would report that to the Garda Ombudsman.

Discodog

jonon9 wrote: »

That's awful if a Garda laughed at me for saying that I would have smashed the window anyway. Dying of heat isnt a very nice thing im sure.

I agree. I would call the Guards first but make my own call as to when I broke the window.

It happened to me in the UK in a Tesco carpark. I broke the window & the irate owner appeared. Luckily the police turned up. The guy said that he wanted me arrested for criminal damage & the police said that they would have to arrest him for animal cruelty

Thankfully the UK police like animals.

stoplooklisten

It happened about 3-4 years ago now, the dog was in the boot and broke down the back seat to try and escape, it still haunts me, next time i'd just smash the window. I was up the hill of tara about 2 weeks ago, hottest day, and a 161 reg, white car had a dog locked in it barking like mad. The owner just appeared in time because i was about to take action..

Some people don't deserve animals .

Discodog

stoplooklisten wrote: »

It happened about 3-4 years ago now, the dog was in the boot and broke down the back seat to try and escape, it still haunts me, next time i'd just smash the window. I was up the hill of tara about 2 weeks ago, hottest day, and a 161 reg, white car had a dog locked in it barking like mad. The owner just appeared in time because i was about to take action..

Some people don't deserve animals .

That's something else that you only see in Ireland - dogs in car boots. The Guards need to stop deciding which laws they choose to enforce.