Friday May 15 2015
▼ Sowing seeds from space 3
▼ Transit tax voter response grows 5
The
Leader
‘HOT DOG IN CAR’ CALLS SPIKE ▶ THE PUBLIC ISN’T HESITATING TO ALERT AUTHORITIES WHEN THEY SEE CANINES LEFT IN VEHICLES – A REACTION BEING ATTRIBUTED TO THE DEATH OF SIX DOGS LAST YEAR KEVIN DIAKIW
A tragedy last year where six dogs died while being kept in a sweltering truck has more people reaching for the phone when they see animals left in vehicles. Kim Marosevich, Surrey’s bylaw business operations manager, said reaction to the so-called “Brookswood Six” incident has her eight-member staff hopping. In May 2014, Delta dog walker Emma Paulsen reported that six dogs in her care had been stolen from her truck while it was parked at the Brookswood off-leash dog park in Langley, while she had briefly left them unattended when she went to the washroom. Her story spurred a large community search for the missing pets. About a week later, however, Paulsen admitted the dogs had actually died in her hot vehicle, which was parked in Richmond. She eventually led police to a ditch in Abbotsford where the dead dogs were dumped. A necropsy done by the SPCA confirmed the animals died of
The deaths of six dogs in a truck last year has prompted greater awareness of the dangers of leaving pets in vehicles and has caused calls to Surrey’s animal control bylaw officers to skyrocket. EVAN SEAL
heat exhaustion. Among the six canines which died was her family’s border collie. The case became known as the “Brookswood Six” and sparked public outrage. Paulsen was sentenced to six months in
NO EASY FIX FOR HIGHWAY
jail in January. According to Marosevich, the incident has seemed to have prompted more people to contact the city when they see animals left alone in cars, saying there has been a huge
▶ REVIEW FINDS FIXING ROLLOVER-PRONE INTERSECTION WOULD BE ‘VERY COSTLY’
spike in calls. “We started getting calls in February for ‘hot dog in car’,” Marosevich said. “Obviously the temperatures in February were not such that there was any real risk to the animals,
JEFF NAGEL
Rebuilding a rollover-prone intersection on the South Fraser Perimeter Road (SFPR) in Delta with an overpass would be a costly last resort only if other options fail to improve
but the reality is (the Brookswood Six incident has) become a real flash point for the community.”
traffic safety there, according to an independent review released by the transportation ministry. Delta Police last year flagged the Highway 17 intersection with Highway 91 Connector as a hazard, describing the
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downhill grade and banked curve as a tricky “twist” that may have contributed to five rollover truck accidents there in 2014. continued on page 4
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