Actor allegedly left dog in hot car in B.C., was confronted
File photo.
Digital Reporter
Thursday, July 30, 2015, 4:01 PM - American actor Jennifer Beals is under fire for reportedly leaving her dog in a hot car in west Vancouver on Wednesday. The window was partly rolled down, but a witness from Global B.C. News Hour described the large dog as 'panting' a lot.
Beals, star of the 1983 film Flashdance, left her dog in a Ford Escape fitted with California license plates. The windows were rolled down a few inches, according to Global B.C. reports.
The incident was caught on video by Global reporter Catherine Urquhart just after 11:30 a.m. local time.
When Beals returned to her car five minutes later, Urquhart said a passerby confronted Beals in a non-aggressive manner about leaving the German Shepherd-type dog in the car.
"It's fine," Beals told the witness. "Thank you."
The SPCA however, takes another stance, arguing that leaving the windows ajar may not have been enough, given the high in the area that day was 25 degrees Celsius.
“In this temperature, I don’t think that would necessarily create the type of cooling effect that would ever be sufficient,” Marcie Moriarty of the B.C. SPCA told Global B.C.
“It baffles my mind that, as human beings, when we enter a vehicle these days, it’s extremely hot and we’re automatically rolling down the windows, turning on the air conditioning full blast,” she told Metro News.
“I don’t understand why people feel that somehow their dog can withstand that heat.”
A request for comment from Beals' agent has not been returned.
Experts say there is no safe amount of time to leave a child or animal unattended in a hot car.
Even on a day where daytime highs are around 20C, the inside temperature of a car can quickly climb to 48C, causing heatstroke and death.
Source: Global News | Metro
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