In early June, a good Samaritan in Palm Desert, California rescued a dog from a hot car after noticing the pooch in a potentially life-threatening situation.
An officer on the scene checked the dog’s temperature and noted that it had risen dangerously high. The person who left the dog in the car now faces jail time.
As we get further into the hot summer months, dogs are more vulnerable to situations like the one that unfolded. To avoid the worst, it’s important to be vigilant about the dangers extreme heat poses to dogs.
Break Glass To Rescue Dog
In the late afternoon of an over 100-degree day, Sue Harvey noticed an unattended dog in a Chevy Colorado parked at a Palm Desert shopping center. Harvey called the police to notify them of the situation.
Shortly after, Officer Rebekah Reyes arrived on the scene. While Officer Reyes notified her supervisor of the situation, a bystander smashed a window of the Chevy to rescue the eight-year-old Pomeranian mix.
Officer Reyes checked the dog’s temperature, which registered at 104.9. Dogs can suffer from irreversible brain damage or death if their temperature reaches 106. The rescued pup was immediately taken to a veterinary emergency hospital, examined, and treated for heat stroke.
The person who left the Pom mix in the car picked up her pup from the hospital the following day. Officer Reyes says that she understands and has learned from her mistake. She faces a misdemeanor conviction and jail time.
What To Do If You See A Dog In A Hot Car
(Picture Credit: Vera Aksionava/Getty Images)A dog in a hot car is a dire situation. If you see one, your first steps should be to notify the establishment where the car is parked, then call the police if the car owner does not fix the situation.
California protects good Samaritans from legal consequences if they break a car window to save a dog. However, not all states offer this protection.
If you’d like to check to see if your state offers protection, DogTime has an extensive list of states that allow action to be taken to save a dog in a hot car.
Also included is a list of states that provide protection to certain individuals, like law enforcement officers and animal control workers, but not good Samaritans.
With that said, you may decide that breaking a window to save a dog is worth facing legal or financial consequences. Odds are, if you’re reading this article, dogs are as important and precious to you as they are to us here at DogTime.
We can’t tell you to break state laws to save a pup, but we certainly would understand if you did.
Have you ever seen a dog trapped in a hot car? What did you do? Let us know in the comments below.
