500 animals found in car without water, 75 dead
Coleraine, NI (UK)Incident Date: Friday, Apr 27, 2007
Disposition: Not Charged
Person of Interest: male
The USPCA was last night investigating a shocking incident of animal cruelty after 500 animals were discovered in the back of a student's car in Coleraine.
The animals - including birds, hamsters, rabbits, guinea pigs and a Chinese water dragon - were in boxes and cages in the Renault Clio parked on Cromore Road yesterday.
No water had been left for them. The USPCA revealed 75 of the animals died of suspected heat stroke and dehydration.
While many of the survivors were taken to vets' surgeries, it is feared more may die.
The car owner, believed to be a male in his early 20s, was spoken to at the scene by the PSNI.
It is understood he may have left the animals in the car for six hours while at university and was planning to take them to pet wholesalers in Co Donegal on Friday evening.
The alarm was raised after a member of the public noticed a number of birds in the locked car acting in a distressed manner.
Local officers arrived and, after the owner was located, the surviving animals were handed over to the USPCA.
Stephen Philpott, chief executive of the animal welfare organisation, said: " I'm shocked at what was found in the car in Coleraine and (recommend) that this man should be questioned about animal cruelty.
"To leave these small animals in those conditions for over six hours shows a total lack of regard for their welfare.
"Every year, we bring this sort of problem to the public's attention - that temperatures in cars can soar, even on a cloudy day. Every summer lots of pets, particularly dogs, lose their lives in cars and ignorance is not an excuse. References
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