After the elation of yesterday came a sad reminder of the dangers of the heat. Four dogs were brought in by the Police Municipal having been rescued from a car which was parked in full sun.
All four have Spanish microchips and will leave with their owners. No doubt they were happy to be able to take their dogs on holiday with them, and this is most people’s ideal. However as today has shown, there are pitfalls. One of the dogs is a golden retriever who is quite elderly, and I cannot help but think that all four dogs had a lucky escape.
Perhaps the Spanish owners underestimated the heat here “up north”, and it is true that the temperatures are a bit lower than they were this time last month. But a car acts as an oven. There is nowhere for the heat to escape, and it is terrifying how quickly animals (or indeed babies) can succumb.
Today’s fifth arrival is a puppy who has almost certainly been mistreated.
So it was not a good day. Five arrivals to a refuge that is already pretty busy is bad, but for all of today’s arrivals, it is a place of refuge, in the true sense of the word. Luckily from a capacity point of view the four dogs will leave with their owners, who will hopefully have learned a salutary lesson. The puppy will find a new life, hopefully before too long.