I WOULD like to respond to the letter from Lyn Cooper (Gazette August 31).

As an RSPCA officer I agree with her comments about leaving dogs or any other animals in cars on a hot day.

Our experience has shown that a dog can die an agonising death in as little as 20 minutes and in extreme cases an animal can start to cook.

When informed about dogs left in such circumstances we will always endeavour to get an RSPCA inspector to the scene as soon as possible.

However at times my officers are often dealing with other emergencies many miles away and can take up to an hour to arrive. At such times we often enlist the help of the police who will release the dog and save its life.

If the animal has suffered unnecessarily as the result of being left in a hot car, we will then investigate and won't hesitate to take action where necessary.

In August we secured convictions against three women who had left their dogs in cars at an amusement park while temperatures soared to 112F. Last month we were involved in a case involving 28 King Charles spaniel pups which had been left in temperatures of 80F while the owners were eating lunch.

We would not encourage anyone to take the law into their own hands and release dogs from cars. Animals may react violently or could escape and become injured or cause an accident.

As an animal welfare charity we rely entirely on public donations to enable our inspectors and animal collection officers to carry on investigating complaints of cruelty, collecting sick and injured animals, rescuing wildlife and offering people advice, financial support and help with rehoming unwanted pets.

Lyn Cooper's comment that people stop supporting the society can only be detrimental to animal welfare and will only result in us having fewer officers to carry out this work in future.

ALAN GODDARD

RSPCA Regional Superintendent

Basingstoke