The dog appears to be desperately hanging on, attached to the truck by a piece of rope.

The photo was taken by Katie Cole while she was driving on Queensland’s Ipswich Motorway on Saturday December 8, 2018 and shared by a friend of hers on Facebook.

Cole was extremely upset as she watched the dog struggling on the back of the truck, which she says was traveling upwards of 100 km/hour.

“Absolutely fuming, how on earth does this person think it’s OK and safe to transport a dog on the back of a semi only tied on with a bit of rope?!,” Cole later wrote on Facebook.

Cole told the Courier Mail, “I’m concerned for the dog. It’s a big dog but it should be inside the cabin or something, not tied to the back of the truck. It looked as if it was tied to the framework by rope.”

She told the paper that she had reported the incident to police and the RSPCA.

As result, the RSPCA has launched an investigation. However, it is unclear whether any laws have been broken.

According to 7 News Brisbane it is legal in Queensland to travel with a dog in the back of an open truck as long as the dog is properly tethered.

This is unfortunate, given the startling number of dogs that die each year from riding in the box of a truck. Not to mention the other injuries that can occur such as ear, eye and nose damage, or being dragged on ground if tethered and ejected.

Legalities aside, it is considered much safer to travel with a dog inside a vehicle than outside of one.