AS visiting crowds at the weekend's Three Counties Show basked in a heatwave, police and RSPCA officers were called to rescue a series of dogs suffocating in cars.

In one vehicle they found a husky baking in 97F.

Show Press officer Sharon Gilbert was furious.

"I thought this was a problem we had got rid of," she said. "In all our pre-show publicity and on our booking forms we make it quite clear that dogs, unless they are competing or are aid dogs for visitors, should not be brought to the Three Counties.

"We have made strenuous efforts in recent years to eradicate the problem, but it seems some people simply refuse to listen."

Lee Hopgood, RSPCA chief inspector for Worcestershire and Herefordshire, said that during the three days of the show, he received 40 calls about dogs left in cars.

"In all but five cases, the owners returned when asked and were spoken to," he said. "However, in the remaining five cases, we had to enter the vehicle ourselves and release the dogs. I checked the temperature of a vehicle containing a husky and it was 97F.

"This sort of callous disregard for an animal's welfare is totally unacceptable."

He added that although prosecutions were unlikely to follow, five people had been formally cautioned.

Attendance at the show was around 99,000, about the same as last year.