A dog has died after being locked in car in Western Australia on Wednesday, despite the brave efforts of strangers who tried to save the animal.
Several strangers banded together to rescue the dog, believed to be a mastiff breed, from a Holden Astra in Balga, near Perth.
Local resident Amy Middleton, who was one of those who tried to help the dog, posted about the incident on Facebook.
Ms Middleton said a group of people came together after noticing the animal locked in the small car with a chain around its neck as a leash.
A dog has died after being locked in a car in Perth on Wednesday, despite the efforts of strangers to try and save the animal
The dog was locked in the car, believed to be packed full of items, with all the windows up during the warm day.
‘This innocent dog lost his life because this f***ed up world is still full of people that don’t understand that YOU CAN’T LOCK A DOG IN A CAR! Not for 5, 10 or 15 minutes and especially not for the majority of the day,’ Ms Middleton wrote.
‘Everything and I mean everything possible was done to try keep this animal alive!’
Temperatures reached a top of 26C in Perth on Wednesday, with that temperature able to climb 30 degrees in just minutes inside a vehicle.
Ms Middleton said the dog was carried to a nearby shady area by a man while a vet nurse, who drove by the incident, pulled over to attempt CPR on the animal.
‘It just wasn’t enough, we lost him and everyone there at that moment was beyond sorry to that animal,’ Ms Middleton wrote.
The dog was locked in the car, believed to be packed full of items, with all the windows up during the warm day
‘We were all utterly heartbroken and angry that anyone could do this!’
The woman said the dog’s owner returned shortly after and ‘lied and blamed everything around him instead of stepping up and taking responsibility of an irresponsible, absolutely disgusting decision he made all by himself’.
The Facebook page for Perth Pets in Need said the dog suffered ‘two seizures and threw up, before he died a slow painful death’.
‘Like all dogs who get heatstroke, he suffered horrendously,’ they said.
‘Rest easy big boy, you didn’t deserve this and I hope you know how much that group of strangers loved you for that short time and will care for a life time,’ Ms Middleton wrote.