TWIN brothers who took a dog on holiday and left it in a car on the hottest day of the year later found it close to death.

Malcolm and Kenneth Lenton-Smith were taking a three-day break in Southport in July when they left their elderly greyhound Tara in the car while they stayed at a hotel.

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Concerned passersby saw the dog in distress and alerted the police.

Despite both of the twins admitting causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal magistrates allowed them to have their pet back.

RSPCA inspectors have warned they may appeal this decision.

Sefton Magistrates Court heard the 67-year-old siblings, of Duxberry Street, Earby, had been checking on the dog at hourly intervals before falling asleep after drinking beers and eating fish and chips.

When they woke up three hours later the dog had collapsed through heat exhaustion after temperatures outside the car reached 30C, the court heard.

Prosecutor Alison Clarkson said: “It was 8pm on July 19 and officers were called to a car-park at the back of the Bold Hotel.

“Members of the public were concerned because a dog had been left in the vehicle for a number of hours and clearly was in distress at that stage.

“The temperature that day had reached at least 30C.

“The defendants got the dog out of the car and it was on the pavement, clearly in great distress. Its breathing was heavy and slow.

“The vet had been called and arrived 20 minutes later. They were extremely concerned and believed that the dog may well die if they weren’t able to get treatment to it very very quickly.

“The animal was taken under the Animal Welfare Act and placed on a drip. Even for a number of days there was still doubt as to whether it would survive due to the dehydration.”

Despite the dog undergoing weeks of treatment, Mrs Clarkson said that Tara now had lasting kidney damage, possible liver damage, and had been taken into foster care.

On behalf of the Greyhound Trust she asked for the dog to be permanently taken from the twins.

Probation report workers Jackie Charnock and Bernie Hilton told magistrates the men had taken on Tara as a rescue dog when she was about one-year-old and that she was now nearly 12.

Mrs Charnock said that Malcolm, the owner of the dog, was ‘broken hearted when he saw her in the car’.

She said he’d left her two bowls of water, the window open, and parked the car in a shaded area. “He said it’s a punishment itself, that he has to live with what happened to his dog on July 19,” she said.

Mrs Hilton said that Kenneth was also broken hearted and had told her that Tara didn’t like staying in kennels and so they kept her in their car, a Ford Mondeo Estate, as they had done before.

Speaking for themselves before magistrates, Malcolm said that when he contacted the vet the following day nothing was mentioned about kidney or liver problems and suggested that the kidney issue is associated with the dog’s age.

“I’ve made the one mistake which I’m really deeply sorry for,” he said. His brother added, “So am I.”

The twins were each sentenced to 40 hours of unpaid work, ordered to pay the vet bill of £354.54 between them, and each pay costs and victim surcharge of £170.

Chairman of the bench, Mr Felton, said: “As you appreciate it’s a serious mater and the dog did suffer as a result of your actions, which you accept. “We have considered whether you should be disqualified from keeping a dog in future and we have decided that it’s an isolated incident and you have affirmed it is not going to be repeated under any circumstances. Therefore, you are not going to be disqualified.”

The magistrates then agreed for the dog to be released back to the two men, as they had no previous convictions and had kept dogs all their life. However, as the men thanked the court for its ‘understanding’, prosecutor Mrs Clarkson, said: “Before they get their hopes up, the RSPCA might be going to appeal the ownership of the dog.”

The court heard that the RSPCA have 21 days to challenge the decision to give Tara back to the twins.