We recently wrote about how summer, in the other hemisphere, continues to claim victims. Children left in the car under the sun, often due to episodes of dissociative amnesia, and condemned to a tragic and avoidable fate.

But animals are also part of this statistic, as confirmed by the recent episode of a 5-year-old Rottweiler who lost his life in Padstow, a suburb south-west of Sydney in Australia. The facts: on Monday 7 December, passers-by noticed a dog in a ‘highly distressed’ condition on a Toyota parked in the sun. By the time the owner returned to the car, the animal was in a desperate state due to the temperature inside: with 30°C outside, the interior can quickly exceed 50°C. There was no point in going to the vet, as there was nothing that could help the poor animal.

Here is the original news that also confirms an ongoing investigation against the dog’s owner accused of ‘acts of aggravated cruelty to animals’. This news also highlights the impressive numbers of emergency calls to rescue children who have been forgotten or left locked in a car in Australia: in October alone, the NRMA revealed 164 calls, accounting for 21.5% of total call-outs.

For children, there are already anti abandonment systems such as Tippy Pad which are compulsory by law in Italy and, we hope, soon abroad. But who thinks of our animal friends, who are themselves, innocent victims?