Dog owner charged after K9 officer finds animal locked in hot car

A Hamilton dog-owner is facing charges under the OSPCA act after a K9 police officer spotted a large dog in distress inside a hot car.

Police say officers found the dog panting in a car parked outside a Barton Street East grocery store Saturday around 12:30 p.m.

AK9 officer Const. Kevin Willson started to feed water to the dog through four-inchopening in the window and was waiting by the vehicle for about 15 minutes, police say, when the animal's owner came out of the store.

It was more than 30 degrees Celsius when the dog was left locked inside, according to the service, which added parked cars can"quickly reach deadly temperatures, even with the car parked in the shade and the windows open."

The animal's owner was charged with permitting an animal to be in distress.

Police are reminding all pet owners to leave animals in a cool, safe place on hot days.

Heat warning

The reminder comes as Hamilton swelters under a heat warning.

• Heat warning issued for Hamilton Tuesday

Environment Canada warned residents to drink plenty of water and stay out of the sun.

"A hot and very humidairmassremains in place," read the warning."Maximum daytime temperatures near 31 degrees are generally expected ... with humidex values near or above 40."

The heat is expected to continuethrough Wednesday when a cold front moves in.