SOME PEOPLE DO NOT DESERVE TO HAVE PETS

[NaomiMarie]

The boys and just took our next door neighbor (and her two boys) to run a few errands. They are moving out of state in a few days and one of the stops was to a local discount store to get a BIG suitcase. When we got out of the van I notcied a parked SUV with a barking dog in it . It was a lil poodle and I swear it was about to fall outta the vehicle (was trying to get over the rolled down window). When I say it is hot out today it is HOT with a capital H! Combine that with no breeze and high humidity and you have a really BAD scenario! Do peopel actually think that having thw windows rolled down is SUFFICIENT???? DUHHHHHHH!!!!!!
We were only in the store for about 5-7 minutes. When we came out the dog was still barking.....
This woman in a minivan happen to see/hear the dog and stopped her van directly in front of the SUV and started leaning on her horn to get the owner's attention. NO sign of anyone, SIGH!
At this point I was LIVID. I swear I could have killed the dog's owner with my bare hands! I was just that mad!
I stopped at the police station, which was only a few blocks away, to bring it to their attention. Just as I was talking to them they received another call regarding this matter (probably from the woman in the minivan). MAN, this just infuriates me!
I went online and found this info which I will be making copies of and distributing........

How can people be so brainless?
HOT WEATHER AND ANIMALS ARE NOT A GOOD MIX

Did you know that, even leaving car windows open on a day when the outside temperature is about 76 degrees, the temperature inside the car reaches about 125 degrees in a matter of minutes?? The hot temperatures of late have reached anywhere between 94-100 degrees outside, while inside the car the temperature reaches anywhere between 145-160 degrees-even if you're parked in the shade!! For an animal, there is no question-air conditioning is a MUST.

We humans are fortunate to have sweat glands all over our body to help regulate our body temperatures during such hot weather. However, our animal friends-those cats and dogs we so dearly love-can only regulate their body temperatures effectively through panting! Imagine being wrapped tightly with layers of plastic wrap and having it secured with rolls of duct tape, sitting in your vehicle, stuck in traffic, with a broken air conditioner, and the only means of regulating body heat is through your mouth?!?!

Animals that are left in a vehicle with the windows open during hot weather are extremely vulnerable to DEATH!! This is no over reaction. As previously mentioned, it doesn't take very long for a car to get dangerously hot. The unfortunate animal inside is in a very bad situation as it's trying to rid itself of excessive body heat through exhaling and bringing in cooler air through inhaling. If the air it is inhaling is higher in temperature than its own body heat, it won't succeed in regulating its body temperature. The animal is in grave danger when the body heat is 105 degrees or over. If emergency treatment is not rendered, your precious pet could die or sustain brain damage after as little as 5 minutes. There are several other variables which compound the problem. Some of these are the level of humidity-the higher the humidity, the greater the problem; animals with short nasal passages are more at risk-i.e. bulldogs, pugs, Persian cats, etc.; an animal's age-just as with humans-the babies, youngsters, sick, and elderly are at greater risk; and even animals that are restrained and have no means of obtaining shade are at great risk.

If you see an animal inside a car on a hot day that appears to be panting rapidly, frantically, and noisily; thick stringy-like drooling; and its tongue and/or gums appear to be bright red-it is a strong indication that the animal is beginning to have a heat stroke. These symptoms, accompanied by vomiting are even stronger indications of heat stroke. Without emergency first-aid and care, death is imminent.

The single most important thing to do in this situation is to remove the animal from the vehicle and quickly immerse or continually saturate it with cool water-this helps bring down the core body temperature. Cover all of the body with cool water, especially the belly, chest, head and feet areas. If the animal will drink water, provide it! Then get to a vet IMMEDIATELY! If possible during transport, have several towels soaked with cool water that you can lay on the animal's belly and chest. Once they lose their cooling effectiveness, remove them from the animal. Your recognition of the situation and fast action can mean the difference.

PLEASE, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD-BEWARE OF HEAT, IT DOES KILL!
DO NOT EVER LEAVE YOUR PET IN A VEHICLE ON EVEN A WARM DAY.
Thanks for letting me vent,
Naomi

PS.....in the house with my three kids (two of the 2-legged variety and one of the 4-legged) WITH the a/c on

[3tbear]

I totally agree with you Naomi, animals should not be left in cars in the hot weather, neither should humans for that matter. I got in my car today, it was hot as you know what in there, put the windows down 'til the A/C kicked in, still hot. That poor dog!
Thank you for posting that, people should know this information if they don't already know it. It is vital they do.

[tmagent]

I had the same experience last year. This poor dog was burning up and had foam coming out of his mouth. I went in Costco and asked them to page whomever left their dog in the car. No response after 5 minutes so I decided to take the law into my own hands. I took the tire iron out of the trunk and smashed in the window and pulled the little dog out. I then took it to my vet and they had to cool him down and give him an IV.

Stoooopid me! I left a note on the person's car telling them what I had done and gave my phone number and the vet's number. In about a half hour, the cops were at the vet's and I was arrested for breaking and entering, vandalism, and theft. To make a long story short, I paid restitution for the broken window, my attorney got the charges dismissed, and I was stuck with the vet and attorney bills. Would I do it again? You betcha but next time I don't think I would let the owner know anything. After all, they didn't care about the dog anyway or they wouldn't have left it in a hot car in the afternoon sun.

[mcshelll]

What is so outragous is that people who take their dogs with them usually think they are treating them better then if they left them home alone. You are so right though Naomi, some people don't deserve pets at all. What did the police say they would do for the dog?

[NaomiMarie]

Originally posted by mcshelll
What is so outragous is that people who take their dogs with them usually think they are treating them better then if they left them home alone. You are so right though Naomi, some people don't deserve pets at all. What did the police say they would do for the dog?

They didn't say.....and to be honest, I didn't ask.
I hope the owner pays dearly

[LocaChica]

Originally posted by tmagent
I had the same experience last year. This poor dog was burning up and had foam coming out of his mouth. I went in Costco and asked them to page whomever left their dog in the car. No response after 5 minutes so I decided to take the law into my own hands. I took the tire iron out of the trunk and smashed in the window and pulled the little dog out. I then took it to my vet and they had to cool him down and give him an IV.

Poor thing. Glad you did something.

[telos2000]

We just shoot people like that heya in Texas!

[wifey1227]

I think they should adopt the Texas way straight across the board....poor animals

[AtlantaGAL]

If you get caught in this state you get a cruality to animals type of citation with a fine, and in some cases, they take your pet(s) away.

I usually don't take my dog with me unless we're going somewhere that she can come inside (like PetSmart). She's better off at home with the a/c.

[pandybat]

You know NaomiMarie, that would be an excellent idea to print off a few flyers with the information you gave us above and keep a few copies in your car just for occasions like this. I don't think there's any harm in at least sticking one under the windshield wiper of someones car who has done these terrible things to their poor animals.

But reading this also brought up a question of which I would like to know where we could find the answer.......
When you see something like this and you have taken all means of finding the owner with no response, what is the legal means of action for rescuing the dog? Tmagent is an example of what happens if you take the law into your own hands and I've always thought I would have done the same thing but now I'm not so sure. I'd sure hate to be stuck with all those bills and criminal charges for trying to rescue some idiots dog from dying. So what are we supposed to do when the owner can't be found and its a matter of life or death for the animal that they be taken out right then and there? Are we just supposed to wait and watch the poor thing die?? Does anyone know where we can find the correct and legal form of action on a situation like this???

[sweetiris]

Situations like that always make me sick. I think it ridiculous that we live in a society where someone like tmagent can do what she did and SHE gets in trouble. Animals have practically no rights in our society and I just CAN'T STAND IT! Like AtlantaGAL was talking about, in some states you can get in trouble, but this isn't the norm.
A couple years ago we had a situation where I'd been sitting in the van (I had the air on, my parents had went in a restuarant, I wasn't hungry, stayed in the van to read) , a car pulled up next to us, and the people got out and went in the resturant. A little while later I just happened to notice that there were two parakeets, in a cage in the back seat, who were despertely trying to get out. The car window had only been left open just a little bit. Since I'd seen the people who'd got out of the car, I went in the restuarant, found my parents, told them, and we found the people. We told them to get those birds out immediately. Personally I don't think the people cared much about the birds and I wished we could have taken the birds away from them.

Anyway, after this happened we tried to get some info about what you could do in this situation. Basically what we found and were told was that the birds were their property and they could do whatever they wanted with it, including leaving it in a hot car.

I don't know if that is still true or not. I really hope it isn't. I know recently I have heard something about more laws for more animal rights maybe being passed, but I really don't know all that much about it.

[tlspiegel -Closed]

Animal Control fines people about $200, plus court costs, if they leave a dog in a car when the outside temperature is at over 80 degrees.


YOU CAN'T DO THAT. Period.

[MariB]

Perhaps a fitting punishment would be to lock these stupid owners in their car for an hour or two on a blazing hot day with no water and the widows rolled down an inch.

Gadsden, Alabama, where I used to live, had very strict laws concerning leaving animals in hot cars. The police would respond to such calls immediately and, if was clear that an animal was in danger, they would enter the vehicle using whatever method they had to, take the animal and issue a citation against the owner.

This time of year, the local TV and radio stations start issueing warnings to not leave pets and children in cars for even short periods of time.

[NaomiMarie]

Originally posted by MariB
Perhaps a fitting punishment would be to lock these stupid owners in their car for an hour or two on a blazing hot day with no water and the widows rolled down an inch.

That's EXACTLY what I said (with emphasis on STUPID OWNERS)