SPCA decides not to investigate Jennifer Beals, seen leaving dog in car in warm weather
Posted July 31, 2015 7:31 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
WEST VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The SPCA will not open an investigation into an incident where actress Jennifer Beals left her dog inside a car on a summer day.
She was confronted by a passerby in West Vancouver and captured on video by a news reporter.
Beals says she was just picking up her dry cleaning and had rolled down the windows.
“The temperature is warm. I think this is an education opportunity. I don’t doubt that she loves her dog and I very much appreciate her comments around caring for her animals,” says Marcie Moriarty with the SPCA.
She points out dogs don’t cool themselves the same way humans do and it can take only 10 minutes for a situation to turn bad.
“I think this is an opportunity to highlight, for conscious animal lovers, that they need to make other provisions in this heat. She probably shouldn’t have been running her dry cleaning with her dog in the car.”
Beals defends herself in a statement and notes she appreciates the strangers’ vigilance and courage, but disagrees with their assessment.