Summer is almost upon us and we have had a few hot days – days that were too hot to leave a dog in a car. Yet I have seen dogs locked in cars while their owners shop – or watch a Memorial Day Parade in Kennebunk.
Two large dogs were left in the “way back” of a hatchback car that was parked in the sun. The dogs, likely generating a lot of body heat, couldn’t get away from each other because of the wire mesh that separated them from the front and back seats. The sun was beating in on them through the glass of the back window. The front passenger window was down about six inches, but the breeze was blowing from the other direction. When I noticed the dogs, I waited to see if the owner would show up. He didn’t. I walked over to a group of people standing on the curb watching the parade and asked if the dogs belonged to anybody. Nobody claimed them. I found a police officer who called in a cruiser. As soon as the police officer showed up, the owner magically appeared.
He mumbled something of an excuse, the officer nodded and drove away.
I was disappointed the officer didn’t give the owner a good tongue lashing about the danger of leaving dogs in a hot car on a hot day.
It never ceases to amaze me how irresponsible people are when it comes to heat, cars, pets and kids.
Last summer in Arizona, a K-9 police officer left his police dog, Bandit, in a cruiser for 12 hours on a day that reached 109 degrees. He found his dog – the police department’s dog – dead. He was charged with animal cruelty and demoted from his position.
According to a Center For Disease Control and Prevention study, when outside readings range between 80 to 100 degrees, temperatures inside a vehicle can rise to between 131 to 172 degrees.
Just last weekend – also in Arizona – a woman left her 7-week-old baby in the car in 100-degree temperatures while she went grocery shopping for 45 minutes.
A passerby happened to glance in the car and saw the infant sweltering in the car.
The police were called and as the group of bystanders grew, some people wanted to bust the window out right then and there, before the police and fire departments arrived. The store manager argued they should wait because the fire department was close by.
When rescue arrived, the window was broken out and the baby was taken inside the store where mom was standing in the checkout line. The baby was given CPR and taken to the hospital before being turned over to the Arizona Department of Health Service.
The mother told authorities she “forgot” her baby. How do you forget a baby? Isn’t the mother of a 7-week-old baby still in “show off the baby” mode?
I think she’s lying about “forgetting” the baby. Officials said she bought a cart full of groceries. Why wasn’t her memory jogged when she passed the diaper aisle or the baby food aisle or saw someone else’s baby or toddler? According to the news reports, even as she stood there in line, she still didn’t “remember” her baby as rescuers rushed into the store with the unconscious infant.
I envision a future where, on hot days, store greeters say something like, “Did you leave a baby in your car?” or muzak in grocery stores is interrupted by announcements – “Shoppers, the temperature outside is 89 degrees. The temperature inside your car may be more than 130. Did you leave your dog or child in the car?”
Dogs don’t belong in locked hot cars and I just don’t understand how a baby is “forgotten.” I hope the judge throws the book at that woman and forgets to let her out of jail.
                                                             ­– Renee Worthing