A family who lives in Florida want to share their heartbreaking story of their chocolate Labrador retriever’s untimely death caused by something many people have in their homes and often, think nothing about and too often leave out in plain view and reach of our canine friends.
Holly and Brian Best and her family loved their Lab name Scout from the moment they met him as a puppy. The terrible incident that claimed Scout’s life still leaves his family in absolute disbelief.
On New Year’s Eve, the family had all fallen asleep; a bag of potato chips had been left out on the table. No one even thought twice about it; that is until early the next morning when Brian woke up and found Scout had a bag of chips over his head.
According to WtaeNews, Scout was found lying motionless on the ground with a chip bag stuck over his head and face. Scout had suffocated.
I was just speechless after it and when I told my friends, I said Scout passed away in a bag of chips.
Tyson Best
Ironically, Holly like so many other dog owners, had always been more worried about Scout choking to death on a dog treat or rawhide, but who would ever suspect a chip bag?
A website called “Prevent Pet Suffocation” hopes to educate the public:
Chip bags and other food packaging pose serious suffocation risks to our pets. Too many pets, especially dogs, have died from suffocating in chip bags, cereal boxes, snack bags, pet treat bag liners, and pet food bags. A lot of these bags are made from a strong mylar-like material (like a balloon) which helps keep snacks fresher. When a curious dog puts his head into the bag looking for leftover crumbs, the bag creates a vacuum-like seal around the dog’s neck. As he tries to breathe, the bag tightens around his neck, cutting off the oxygen. When a dog cannot remove the bag from his head, he will usually start to panic, desperately running around until he collapses and dies from asphyxiation, often losing his bowels, as well. This happens within minutes.
Prevent Pet Suffocation website
And tragically this happens more often than we think. According to the website’s owner, Bonnie Harlan, who lost a dog to suffocation in 2011 in Texas, she typically hears from three or four devastated pet owners a week.
So what can you do to prevent this? Make your home safer by storing all of the chips into plastic containers, cutting the chip bags into tiny pieces and learning how to administer pet CPR.
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