Imagine sitting in a car, waiting, waiting, to be let out, as the panic starts to rise.
You’re wearing a fur coat on this summer day and you are getting hotter, hotter, sicker, sicker, in this oven of a prison, starting to feel deathly afraid as your pulse races. You’re at the mercy of your human, who seems to have forgotten your honorary title as man’s best friend.
Unfortunately, neither the police nor the SPCA have been able to forget about these poor tormented animals.
Over the past two weeks, there has been a rash of people leaving dogs in their vehicles as they run in to a store to do a little shopping.
Last week a dog was left in a sweltering vehicle for close to an hour before authorities were contacted and arrived on the scene (by then the animal had been removed from the vehicle). Yet it can take as little as 10 minutes for a confined pet to die.
The temperature inside a vehicle can be 20 to 30 times hotter than outside, even if the windows are left open a crack and the vehicle is in the shade.
Overheated humans can sweat, which evaporates and cools the skin surface and assists in dissipating that heat buildup. In fur-covered dogs the only means of dissipating excess body heat is through panting.
Panting is rather inefficient and can actually generate heat, especially with an animal confined to a closed space.
People will return to their vehicle to see their pet collapsed, salivating, panting uncontrollably and losing consciousness.
People may not intend to torture and kill their animals, but they are. Not only is this a waste of a beloved animal, it’s a traumatic and unnecessary use of time for the people who must respond to these calls.