Left by dog trainer in car boot for 1.5 hours, 2 bulldogs later died of heat stress

SINGAPORE — Distracted by the news that a dog she had previously trained was bitten by another canine, a dog trainer ended up leaving her client's two bulldogs in a car that was parked in an unsheltered spot of an open-air car park.

About 1.5 hours later, upon realising that she had left the two animals behind, she returned to find them unresponsive. She then took the dogs to a veterinary clinic where they were declared dead.

On Thursday (May 5), Sabrina Sim Xin Huey, 30, was convicted after pleading guilty to one charge under the Animals and Birds Act for failing to take reasonable steps to ensure that the dogs were not subjected to unreasonable or unnecessary pain or suffering.

Another similar charge was taken into consideration.

Court documents showed that the owner of the two bulldogs had engaged Sim to train them. The arrangement involved boarding and training services where both dogs would stay with Sim during the whole training period.

On Aug 25 in 2020, Sim placed both dogs in the boot of her car, a hatchback, and drove home after a training session.

However, after she reached home at 2.30pm and was at the open-air car park, she got distracted by a social media post about a former customer’s dog being bitten by another dog.

She then alighted from the car and locked it, forgetting to take the two bulldogs with her.

About 1.5 hours later, Sim realised that she had left the dogs in the vehicle and immediately ran down from her home to find them unresponsive.

She took another 30 minutes to reach a veterinary clinic and by then, both animals were already dead.

A post-mortem examination on one of the dogs’ tissue samples found that it had been in a stressful state before it died. The medical findings supported the diagnosis of heat stress as the cause of death.

Mr Andy Dinesh, prosecutor for National Parks Board (NParks), on Thursday stressed to the court that since Sim is a dog trainer, she needs to be held to a higher standard of care than the average person when it comes to the handling of pets.

He said it was unfortunate that she had left the dogs in the car out of forgetfulness, but it was in NParks’ view that a high level of professionalism and care needed to be maintained in the industry.

This was particularly so for an accredited trainer such as Sim.

In mitigation, defence counsel Clement Julien Tan of law firm Selvam LLC said that before the incident, Sim had discharged her duties towards the dogs professionally and with care and concern for 2.5 months.

He also said that WhatsApp messages between Sim and the bulldogs’ owner and a positive review by the same owner on social media indicated a high level of satisfaction with Sim’s service.

Mr Tan said that at the time of the incident, Sim was distracted not by a frivolous social media post but one pertaining to the welfare of a dog that she had trained.

Her action of leaving the two bulldogs behind in the car was due to forgetfulness, which plagues “even the best among us”, he added.

Sim immediately apologised in person to the dogs' owner on the same day and the day after. She also handed an undisclosed amount of compensation, as a mark of her remorse, the defence lawyer said.

Urging the court not to disqualify her licence to train dogs, Mr Tan pointed out that she had trained more than 200 dogs before the incident and 45 dogs after that, receiving numerous positive testimonials and no complaints.

This job provides a main source of income for her and she depends on it to support herself and two elderly parents, he said.

Sim is scheduled to appear before the court again on June 1 to receive her sentencing.