Man investigated for death of a dog after leaving it in his vehicle on a hot summer's day in Malaga
Police have sent a report to the public prosecutor's office after establishing that the animal died of heat stroke on a day when a yellow weather alert had been issued for high temperatures in the city
The Local Police are investigating a resident of Malaga for the death of his dog, which he allegedly left inside his van in the middle of August. The animal, according to the investigation, died due to heat stroke.
The incident occurred on 18 August, although the report containing the investigation carried out was sent only a few days ago to the environmental prosecutor's office in Malaga, which will determine whether it is an administrative or criminal offence.
The incident unfolded following an emergency call to the 092 police control room from two peope who alerted that there was a dog inside a vehicle with all the windows closed and which was parked in a street in Puerto de la Torre. When they were able to access the vehicle, the labrador retriever was convulsing.
The dog was taken to a municipal veterinary centre, where they tried to revive it, but all their efforts were in vain and the dog eventually died. The vets concluded that she had apparently died of heat stroke.
According to the people who alerted the police, the animal had been inside the vehicle for more than two hours. The owner, who showed up at the scene just as the officers were trying to gain access to the vehicle, initially stated that he had only been gone for five minutes to do some errands. However, upon listening to the witnesses, he ended up admitting that he had forgotten it inside the van, according to sources close to the case.
The officers reported the owner of the animal for a violation of the animal protection and welfare act for mistreatment resulting in death. However, members of the Local Police's nature protection group (Gruprona) continued with the investigation.
On the day in question, Spain's state meteorological agency (Aemet) had activated the yellow warning for high temperatures in most of the municipalities in the province, including Malaga city. The alert even reached the amber level in the Antequera area.
The police investigators requested a report from Aemet to accredit the temperatures that could have been reached that day in the area where the incident occurred. Once the information was received, they took a statement from the owner, who was not detained, and sent all the documentation to the prosecutor's office, meaning that the administrative complaint has been made subject to criminal proceedings.
