Police rescue dog left in hot car outside Mississauga’s Square One mall

Peel Regional Police say officers rescued a young dog left inside a hot car as the owner shopped at Square One in Mississauga.

Const. Heather Cannon tells CityNews that officers were called to the mall parking lot in the City Centre Drive area near Duke of York Boulevard around 10:30 a.m. on Friday after someone noticed a dog locked inside a car.

Cannon says the female dog appeared distressed, and responding officers gained access to the vehicle by breaking the car window.

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“The 3-year-old Spaniel was removed from the vehicle and placed in a police cruiser where she was given water and an air-conditioned space,” Cannon says.

“She perked up pretty quickly and did not require medical attention.”

Police waited for the owner, a 40-year-old woman, to return to her car. Cannon says charges were not laid against the woman but that animal control will conduct an independent investigation.

Temperatures in Mississauga reached 26 C around 10 a.m. on Friday, feeling more like 32 C with the humidity.

The Humane Society says that leaving pets locked in cars is never safe.

“When the weather gets warmer, it can be deadly,” a spokesperson said. “High temperatures can cause irreparable organ damage and even death. Protecting animals from unnecessary death is a problem we can all agree to prevent.”

The Humane Society says that when it’s 72 F (equivalent to 22 C), the temperature inside a car can heat up to 116 F (47 C) within an hour.

“Rolling down the windows has been shown to have little effect on the temperature inside a car,” an official said.