Last month we gave you general pet safety tips for the summer weather bu what do you do if you spot an animal in a hot car even if the windows are cracked?
Take these simple steps, provided by the ASPCA, to help save an animal's life:
Step 1: Try to Locate the Pet Parent
If you are in a store parking lot call security or ask the representative at the customer service desk to use the loudspeaker to locate the owner of the vehicle (most stores will do this).
Step 2: Educate
If you find the pet parent(s), explain the dangers of leaving a pet in a hot car. Make sure the pet gets out of the car as soon as possible.
Step 3: Call 911
Fourteen States have enacted specific laws that protect dogs in hot cars, as have many municipalities-but even in places lacking such a law, leaving an animal in a hot car may constitute cruelty. Dial 911.
Step 4: Pat Yourself on the Back
Pets are counting on people like you to save their lives.
Many pet parents believe that cracking a window is enough to keep their dogs cool in the car while they make a quick pit stop-but they couldn't be more wrong. "Automobile temperatures can very quickly rise to dangerous levels; the average temperature increase in a parked car is 40 degrees, and the majority of this increase occurs in the first 15 to 30 minutes," says Dr. Louise Murray, Vice President of ASPCA Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital. When it's 80 degrees outside, your car will be a staggering 114 degrees after 30 minutes!
