Several dogs locked in a large black van this afternoon in Vancouver’s tony Kitslano neighbourhood spurred some concerned citizens to call police.
Anne Hurwitz was one of a handful of witnesses who came upon the van parked along 4th Avenue at Vine Street with a big group of dogs locked inside.
“I wasn’t even near the van when I heard a bunch of dogs barking,” Hurwitz told Global News. “The windows were all rolled up and there were five small dogs in the front cab area and about four large dogs in the back.”
Hurwitz said the dogs were barking, panting, scratching at the door and running from window to window of the locked van. She felt they were clearly in distress and called 9-1-1.
“There was 40 minutes on the parking meter and so it was pretty obvious she wasn’t planning on a quick stop.”
The police arrived quickly on the scene but said they could not break the windows of the van. Instead police had called a tow truck to help unlock the doors. While waiting for the tow truck, the owner of the van showed up.
“She was a dog walker because she had a bunch of leashes around her neck,” Hurwitz says. “And what’s troubling to me, as a dog lover, is people entrusted their dogs to her.”
Police spoke to the woman, who in the end, was permitted to leave because she said she had left the air-conditioning on in the van.
However witnesses at the scene say the van’s engine was not running.
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