Singapore dog dies of heat stroke after being left in car boot for hours
A 3-year-old dog in Singapore died of heat stroke on Wednesday after it was allegedly left in the boot of car for about six hours.
According to the dog owner’s relative, the dog, a Maltese called “Brownie”, was left in the boot of a car belonging to a groomer who had collected the dog to bring it back to the shop he works at for grooming. However, the groomer claimed the dog was stolen shortly after he collected it, when he became preoccupied with a phone call.
Hours later, he finally admitted to the owner’s family that he had forgotten and left the dog in the boot, the owner’s niece, Komala Amatharling, told Yahoo! Singapore.
The dog belonged to 52-year-old Santha Kunmari, who had paid more than S$2,000 dollars for the dog.
The 24-year-old Komala said she had recommended the groomer, a man in his 60s, to her aunt,
He works at World of Pets, a pet shop set up in 2011 which sells pet food, accessories and animals. It also offers boarding and grooming services.
When the pet shop was contacted by Yahoo! Singapore, a lady who identified herself as “Jessie Wong” picked up the phone and commented in Mandarin that “what’s done is already done” before hanging up.
Yahoo! Singapore also contacted the groomer but he said he was driving and could not comment before hanging up. Subsequent calls went unanswered.
Komala said the groomer picked up Brownie at around 1.30pm on Tuesday at her aunt’s flat in Ang Mo Kio and placed it in a pet carrier he brought, and took it to his car.
But about half an hour later, the groomer returned to the aunt’s unit, and said the dog had been stolen.
“He told us he had left the carrier on top of the car, then turned around to take a phone call for five to 10 minutes. When he turned around, the dog was gone,” Komala said.
She added that he repeatedly told them he had checked with several people in the area, and some said they saw an unidentified man walk away with the carrier.
The groomer, her aunt and her cousin, combed the area for hours. At about 3pm, they decided to file a police report.
Komala said the groomer had another dog which he had left waiting in the car while they conducted the search, and they advised him to bring the dog back to the shop first.
More family members joined the search party as the day progressed. Some of them stood on the 11th storey of their block, hoping they could spot the dog from higher ground.
At roughly 7pm, they spotted the groomer running across the road cradling what seemed to be a white dog in his arms.
They rushed down and realised it was Brownie.
“Brownie looked very weak, and my family very worried. We kept asking the groomer where he found it, and after a while he said he had left it in the boot of the car before taking the phone call, then forgot about her,” Ms Komala said.
“He told us he will compensate us with money to buy another dog, and that he wanted to settle this out of court, but our minds were all on saving Brownie, so we ignored him,” she said.
They immediately rushed Brownie to a nearby vet, Acacia Veterinary Clinic.
It was there for an hour before the vet advised the family to either put Brownie to sleep, or send it down to Mount Pleasant Animal Veterinary Centre at Whitley Road for more intensive care.
“The vet told us Brownie suffered heatstroke and its temperature was at 40 degree celsius,” she said. Dogs body temperatures are typically from 38 to 39 degree celsius.
Brownie also had a burst artery, and liver and kidney failure, she said.
When contacted by Yahoo! Singapore, the clinic confirmed Brownie had been admitted.
Brownie passed away within ten minutes of reaching a second clinic at about 9pm Tuesday for intensive care.
The vet on night duty who treated Brownie could not be contacted Wednesday.
A spokesperson of Agri-food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore said they are currently investigating the case.
