Dog safe after riding in crate behind RV on B.C. highway

OSOYOOS (NEWS 1130) – A dog inside a crate strapped to the back of an RV headed to B.C.’s Interior last weekend has been found safe, while police consider what charges the driver could face.

Images of the dog in the crate were posted on social media Sunday, when temperatures climbed into the 30s and 40s across the southern Interior. Monday afternoon, Penticton South Okanagan RCMP announced the dog was found at a campground in Oliver.

“I am pleased to tell you, that thank you to the public and media’s attention to this incident, the dog has now been located in Oliver, BC and is doing well,” Sgt Jason Bayda with the branch said, adding an officer spoke with the owner and checked the wellbeing of the dog. “It looks like (the owners) came from the Lower Mainland up to the Interior. What we’re being told is the rationale behind it was that there was no room in the vehicle and it would have been too hot in the trailer, so I guess this is what they thought was the next best option, albeit not a a very good one.”

Oliver Mounties are working with the BC SPCA “to determine the most applicable charge or charges in this matter and the next steps to ensure the dog’s continued safety,” according to a RCMP release.

Lisa Bohn was one person who spotted the animal. She says she and her family were headed to the 100 Mile area when the RV passed them near Hope.

“As we caught up to him, both my husband and I were like, ‘Oh my God, there’s a dog crate on the back of the trailer,'” she recalled.

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She tells NEWS 1130 she was horrified by what she saw.

“We went to pass him, and came up window-to-window … I’m waving my arms trying to get his attention, and they just kept looking forward,” Bohn said of the RV driver and passengers.

She says she continued to try to grab their attention, to no avail. That’s when she started to snap photos of the RV, also capturing the vehicle’s licence plate number.

Bohn was able to report the incident to the RCMP.

“I got a hold of someone and they were absolutely, her words I believe were, flabbergasted,” she explained, adding, “they said they would put a broadcast out for those areas.”

Bohn posted the photos she took on Facebook to try to locate the RV occupants. She says her post “blew right up,” being widely shared by people and groups.

She says another person even notified her that the same RV was seen in Abbotsford, and elsewhere all the way to Osoyoos.

“I just couldn’t believe it. I’ve been a dog owner since I was little, and we had our own dog in our truck, in the A/C. It was, at that point, 41 degrees or 42 degrees out,” Bohn said. “It tears me up because I have my own dog. I know what the heat does to them … I don’t have words to say how angry and upset I was.”

The dog is visible in other photos posted to Facebook. In one image, the canine is seen with its tongue hanging out as it pants in the heat.

Sgt. Jason Bayda, commander of the Osoyoos RCMP detachment, says police received a call from someone who had spotted the dog in Keremeos just before 8:30 p.m. Sunday.

He says the person who reported the incident couldn’t see if the dog was in the crate when the RV was passing through Hope heading east.

“Regardless, looking at the photos, when for sure they were taken we don’t know, but it’s surely appalling to think anyone could treat an animal that way,” he told NEWS 1130.

‘It’s unacceptable’

The BC SPCA has confirmed it’s investigating the incident.

Eileen Drever, senior office of protection at the BC SPCA, says she was shocked when she heard about what had happened.

“I was actually wondering what was going through their head to put a dog into that crate, attached to the back of the vehicle,” she said, adding dogs’ senses are much more acute than ours.

“I can’t imagine the psychological distress this dog would be under back there. Of course, the heat was incredibly, incredibly hot (Sunday). The record-breaking temperatures — I just can’t imaging how much distress, both psychologically and physically, this dog was suffering.”

Drever notes the organization would “most certainly” be recommending charges if it’s able to prove the dog was in distress.

If found guilty, a person convicted under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act could see a penalty of up to $75,000. The maximum penalty can also come with a prohibition from owning animals and/or a two-year prison term.

Drever has harsh words for the people who put the dog in the crate.

“I just can’t comprehend it at all. Perhaps they should experience that same crate, under those same conditions, and then they probably wouldn’t do that again,” she said, noting there’s never any circumstance that would allow for this kind of behaviour.

She is urging anyone who sees an animal in distress to contact police right away, and to call the SPCA too.

“If you’re planning to do something like this, I’d like to get the message out there: it’s unacceptable.”