A man from Athens, Ala. was charged with misdemeanor cruelty to animals.
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| The officer tries to educate this owner as to the potentially deadly situation he put his dog in |
The one-year-old Boxer, named Bella, was locked for about an hour in a Chevy Silverado truck, with the windows only slightly cracked, in the parking lot of the Blue Ridge Mall Thursday, police said.
A woman noticed the dog on her way into the building, according to police. After leaving the mall a half-hour later, she noticed the dog was still in the truck and called the police.
Lt. Mike Vesely of the Hendersonville Police Department arrived and had announcements made in the mall for the owner to return to the truck.
When the owner did not return, Vesely used the website My Dog is Cool to determine the temperature in the truck, which was estimated to be 115 degrees, and noticed the dog was starting to foam at the mouth.
Police used an unlocking device to get into the truck and removed the dog, putting her in an air-conditioned police vehicle with water.
The owner was charged when he returned to his vehicle. The dog was returned to him.
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| The police officer put the dog in his patrol car to cool off in the air-conditioning and provided her with cool water |
“This may be our third call for a dog in a car this summer,” Vesely said. “This is the only one that was extreme enough that someone has been charged and that we have had to rescue the dog.”
Vesely said the website he used is a great reference for residents to use to determine just how hot a car can get. The website quickly tells the user what the temperature could be by how hot it is outside.
“If it's hot enough for a human to be uncomfortable in a car without the air conditioning on, it is hot enough for a dog to be uncomfortable and possibly in danger,” Vesely said.
(Blue Ridge Now - July 26, 2012)
