Even with a car window cracked in the heat of the summer a pet can die quickly from heat stroke.
People might get upset over someone making a fuss about a dog in a car but it could save a life.
In this video supplied by the Helen Woodward Animal Center you can see just how fast the temperature rises–and how fast a pet can die.
Now there are a lot of people who don’t think about confinement as a death sentence but if the animal cannot cool itself–it often means certain death.
Dogs do not sweat and instead cool themselves off through panting or licking their paws and so heat stroke is a big problem.
I’ve covered this topic before and you can listen to the podcast, Help Pets Beat the Heat or read my Help Pets Beat the Heat tips.
One of my subscribers (Debbie) sent in a request asking I cover the problem of summer heat after the news from South Carolina when a dog died after being left out in a metal crate to cook in the sun.
This act of cruelty might only result in a fine of $500 or 30 days in jail–but get this, the judge did not authorize that the man responsible be taken into custody immediately and the court appearance date is scheduled for July 23, 2010.
Animal Control officers appeared before a Florence city Judge to get an arrest warrant for Bell. The judge denied the arrest warrant, but did issue a courtesy summons. Bell was served with the courtesy summons July 6.
Excuse me, a courtesy summons?
If you want to express your outrage on the South Carolina dog incident you can visit the Care2 Petition Site.
Listen to Help Pets Beat the Heat:
I found this website with a heat study from 1995 and thought you might like to see it. Just click the highlighted link above.
Ark Lady
This is an excellent reminder to all pet owners. It’s a tragedy to lose a pet but even worse to lose one like this. Too many times I’ve seen pet owners leave their dogs in the car while doing errands. I like this news anchors point…if the dog is your best friend, then you wouldn’t leave him/her locked up in a hot car. If you’re going to be making errands, just leave the pet at home. Keep them safe. It’s even more sad when you hear the stories of parents leaving their kids in the car. Some people just don’t think.
Thanks for stopping by for your client Ben and leaving a nice comment. Yep, people don’t think and that costs lives.
Thanks for your words, Ben. And thank you, Ark Lady, for posting! We do this event every year to remind pet owners about the dangers of leaving your four legged family member (and those with two legs, too!) in the car “for just a few minutes.”
Thanks again!
Glad that you stopped by Marcie. “Just for a minute” makes many of us crazy because people are still not educated on this matter.
I am always happy to post education and useful information but recently I asked my subscribers to send me their “most burning question” on their minds and boy did I get a bunch.
This one was from Debbie so she gets the credit for getting me to post about this topic again–it was just great that your video was up at the time.
In fact, I have found that each of the topics has hit the news in conjunction with these posts–talk about synchronicity!