Footage of dogs clinging to pickup truck bed cover sparks outrage

SPCA investigate dogs left loose on truck bed A local dog owner was seen speeding while his dogs were loose on his pickup truck’s bed. CTV Edmonton’s Nicole Weisberg reports.

Alberta’s SPCA is investigating video of two dogs sitting atop a covered pickup truck bed as the vehicle speeds down the highway at more than 100 km/h.

The dashboard-mounted camera footage was recorded and posted on Facebook by motorist Joseph Dunbar, who also lodged a complaint with the SPCA and police over the incident. Facebook has since removed the video, but Dunbar says it was viewed more than 50,000 times before it was taken down.

The video, from Jan. 7, shows two large dogs crouched or sitting behind the cab of the black GMC Sierra pickup truck. Dunbar, who followed the vehicle for a few minutes in the Spruce Grove area, says it was travelling at speeds faster than 110 km/h at one point.

RCMP say they’ve already spoken to the driver and are not pressing charges.

Dunbar says police recommended he take down the video because the driver has faced enough scrutiny already.

The SPCA says it’s still in the middle of its own investigation into the incident.

“We investigate all complaints we receive if there’s reasonable grounds to believe that there has been a contravention of the Animal Protection Act,” Roland Lines, the SPCA’s communication manager, told CTV Edmonton.

Providing safe transportation to an animal is required under the Animal Protection Act, Lines added.

“The first and primary issue is the safety of the animal in the event of the truck swerving, or even if it’s a dog it sees something outside the truck that it wants to go to,” he said.

Veterinarian Jocelyn Forseille says it’s fairly common for animals to be injured or killed when riding in the back of a vehicle with nothing to secure them in place.

“(They) should be within a dog carrier – one of those plastic kennels – and that’s secured at the front of the bed,” Forseille told CTV Winnipeg.

The Alberta Veterinary Medical Association says it’s been urging motorists not to transport their dogs in open truck beds for years.

“The urge to jump could overcome the comfort of the ride at any time,” the AVMA website says.

With files from CTV Edmonton