The man who found a dead dog in a Coquitlam dumpster believes the couple responsible had just left a nearby casino.

Surveillance footage shows a light-coloured minivan pulling up behind a building at 68 Schooner Street on July 26 and two individuals placing the dog into the garbage.

A necropsy suggests the young, female boxer-cross likely died of hyperthermia – extreme heat -- before being thrown into the trash.

“[It's] a very painful death,” Eileen Drever, senior SPCA animal protection officer, said in a statement.

“We are hoping someone will recognize the individuals or the vehicle seen in the security footage we have obtained so we can determine conclusively how the dog died and why she was discarded like garbage.”

Ernie Wedgewood, who found the pup, said investigators gave him their working theory: "That the gold van had driven up from the casino [and] drove into the parking lot."

The BC SPCA wants to talk to the people seen in the video to determine if the incident was an honest accident, or animal abuse.

"It does look suspicious," said Community Relations Manager Lorie Chortyk.

"We just really want to get down to the bottom of the case and certainly if the animal was allowed to suffer and it was intentional we would be following with an animal cruelty investigation."

The BC SPCA has received more than a thousand calls about pets being left in hot cars since the beginning of May.

The agency says canines don't stand much of a chance when locked in a car, even if the windows are open.

"People don't realize how quickly something traumatic can happen to their pet," said Chortyk.

The SPCA has also released a photo of the dog’s distinctive blue and grey collar and red and black leash in the hopes that someone might recognize them.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the SPCA’s cruelty hotline at 1-855-622-7722.