Whilst the sun beat down mercilessly on the tarmac, a car sat parked in the Ekkersrijt industrial estate – with two dogs inside.
The owner had gone off to run errands, without giving a second thought to the wellbeing of their four-legged friends.
They had nowhere to go
The desperate dogs could do nothing but pant, tremble, and wait. Then, just as the heat in the car reached unbearable temperatures, local police officers happened to pass by.
They saw two dogs in terrible distress. Windows closed. No owner in sight. So they made a decision - without hesitation, they smashed a window and pulled the dogs to safety.
"Dogs can't open bottle caps"
When the woman returned to her car, she tried to defend herself. The window had been left slightly open, she argued, and a water bottle had been left ready.
Police responded to this shocking reaction on Instagram:
"Dogs can't open bottle caps" they wrote.
"Let us make this clear once and for all. Children or animals in a hot car? Smash the window."
Yet this warning still doesn't seem to get through to some people. Every year, dogs are rescued from swelteringly hot cars. Time after time, their lives are put at risk for the convenience of their humans.
We can only hope incidents like this will finally make owners think twice.
