Cocker spaniel died from 40c heatstroke after York dog walker forgot to take it home

Pam Fisher, who lives on Chaloners Road, York, appeared at York Magistrates’ Court on Friday, March 3, 2023, to be sentenced after pleading guilty to one Animal Welfare Act offence at an earlier hearing in January.

She admitted to causing unnecessary suffering to a two-year-old cocker spaniel named Teddy by leaving him in a vehicle on a hot day, resulting in his death.

At sentencing she was handed a three-year ban on dealing with dogs and transporting them, a 12-month community order, and ordered to pay costs of £400 and £95 victim surcharge.

The court heard that on August 11, 2022, the owner of Teddy took him to a vet, he was deceased at the time, after he had been left in Fisher’s van.

The court was told that Teddy’s owner had received a call from Fisher to inform her that she had forgotten to take the dog home; she found him dead in her van. She explained that she had dropped off the other dogs in her care but had ‘forgotten’ that she still had Teddy in her van.

In an interview with an RSPCA inspector, Fisher said that she usually dropped Teddy off first after a group dog walk, but on this day she dropped two other dogs at home first. She said that the other dogs were in a crate which covered the view of the crate Teddy was in.

After being alerted by the owner that the dog was not at home, the court heard that Fisher checked the van and was ‘horrified’ when she saw Teddy in the crate, deceased.

When asked in the interview how she felt, Fisher said she was ‘devastated’ and that evening texted her customers to announce that she was stopping her business.

Vets state Teddy had died of heatstroke and that his body temperature was at 40C.

A vet statement went on to say: “It is my opinion that the likely cause of Teddy’s death was heatstroke. Dogs can develop heatstroke and die within an hour in hot weather.

“It is unknown how long and how quickly Teddy died. It is likely that Teddy will have suffered.”

Speaking after the sentencing, RSPCA inspector, Claire Mitchell, said: “Fisher had confirmed that she’d forgotten to drop Teddy off back at his owner’s and he’d been in the back of the van for five hours. The temperature that day was 30C.

“We hope this tragic case reminds people that the risk to the lives of animals is so high. Our message is simple: never leave a dog in a hot car - ‘not long’ is too long, and if you see a dog in a hot car, call 999 immediately.”