Dog freed from car by police, escapes onto Gardiner Expressway

A dog was left in a SUV (with British Columbia plates) today in the parking lot of a grocery store downtown for six hours.  Six hours!!!!

Parker was rescued by the police, only to get spooked and then he took off onto a busy highway.  Thankfully he was caught again.

BTW, the temperature was 33C (39C with the humidity).  That's freakin' hot!

Here's the story from the Toronto Star ...

Parker the dog is safe after he was rescued from a hot car in a parking lot, only to escape and run the wrong way up a Gardiner Expressway off-ramp.

Two people called police — one at 12:16, one at 12:22 — concerned about the black, 100-pound pit-bull mix in the back seat of an SUV in the extreme heat.

Officers from a nearby plainclothes unit quickly responded. One reported back to police: “It’s really hot in there, the dog is looking pretty slow.”

Traffic Services officers soon arrived on scene, followed by an officer in the Police Dog Services unit. Officers got the doors of the vehicle open, and spent several minutes trying to coax the animal out of the car.

They eventually slipped a leash around its neck, and got it out of the vehicle.

“I had him,” said Const. Matt Butt, a canine officer. “But his collar was too big. I had my leash on him, we opened the door, and then he got agitated, flipped around on his back, the leash came off, and that was it.”

The dog then ran north through the parking lot, towards Jarvis St, and went up the Jarvis off-ramp and onto the eastbound Gardiner Expressway, with officers close behind.

“It was touch and go, some of those cars are moving up there,” Butt said.

But Parker was soon exhausted, Butt said, and lay down and took shelter in the shade of a car that had stopped on the shoulder.

The entire chase lasted eight minutes.

The driver of the vehicle joined police in comforting and stroking the dog on the highway, which was brought to a temporary standstill.

Parker was initially taken into the custody of Toronto Animal Services, and is now with the Ontario SPCA.

“We just heard from the SPCA,” said Toronto Police Sgt. Mike Hayles. “The dog is in decent health. They are sending the dog to a vet for a complete physical assessment, just to make sure there are no underlying medical conditions. But as far as we're aware at this time, the dog is OK.”

Const. Wendy Drummond said the owner could be criminally charged.

A man and woman, who appeared to be in their 20s, returned to their vehicle shortly after 5 p.m., but refused to speak to reporters.

You can watch the video here.

When the owners returned, they were confronted by police and media cars.  Not surprising they had no comment.

What the hell were they thinking?!  They should be ashamed of themselves!

Update:  The dog was returned to the owners.  Why???