WEST VIRGINIA -- A woman was charged with animal cruelty for reportedly leaving a dog in a car for more than an hour last week.
Carolyn Elswick of Madison, W.Va., was charged with cruelty to animals.
Statesville Police Chief Tom Anderson said officers were called to the parking lot at JR Tobacco, 1515 E. Broad St. in Statesville, on Thursday after merchants reported a dog had been locked inside a vehicle for more than an hour. There was no water in the vehicle and the outside temperature was more than 80 degrees, Anderson said.
Anderson said the dog was “obviously in distress. It was panting profusely.”
He said when officers arrived, the dog’s owner came out of the store and claimed to have been inside 30 to 40 minutes. Anderson said the merchants disputed that timeline, claiming the woman was inside for more than an hour.
Anderson said the dog will recover and was left in the custody of the woman.
“Let’s hope she’s learned a lesson from this,” he said.
Anderson said police are taking calls of children or animals left in vehicles seriously. He said that he responded to a similar call on Friday at Walmart. The report was a dog left in a truck for an extended period of time. The truck was gone by the time he arrived, but Anderson said he checked the area for the truck.
“I want to remind everyone again not to leave children or pets unsupervised in vehicles, especially during the summer months. In a matter of minutes, the temperature inside a vehicle can rise more than 20 degrees, which can be lethal to either children or pets,” he said. “We do take these calls seriously and will charge the drivers accordingly.”
(Mooresville Tribune - August 13, 2013)
