How to Report An Animal in a Hot Car

How to Report An Animal in a Hot Car

Animals die in hot cars. It can take as little as 20 minutes. Cracking a window is not enough. Never leave a dog, cat or animal in a car during warm weather. Ever.

There’s no excuse for ever leaving an animal in a car on a warm or hot day. On a 78-degree day, the temperature inside a parked car can soar to 100 degrees in just minutes, and on a 90-degree day, the interior temperature can reach as high as 109 degrees in less than 10 minutes. 

Parked cars are deathtraps for animals. Animals can sustain brain damage and die from heatstroke in only 15 minutes. High temperatures can cause irreparable organ damage and even death. Plus dogs and cats cannot perspire trapping even more heat inside their bodies. Cracking the windows or leaving the sunroof open is not enough, it’s foolish to think it is. Rolling the down windows has been shown to have little effect on the temperature inside a car. It doesn’t even have to be that warm outside for a car to become dangerously hot inside. 

The safest thing to is to do is to leave your dog or cat at home. Remember, it is illegal in many states to leave a pet alone in a car. There’s no excuse – ever, never leave your pet in a parked car in warm weather.

Under 20 minutes in a hot car can prove fatal to a dog or cat should its body temperature exceed 41°C. As the temperature inside the car rises, in just a matter of minutes, the animal’s suffering will become evident through excessive panting, whimpering, or moewing/barking. This will develop into a loss of muscle control and ultimately the kidneys will cease to function, the brain will become irreversibly damaged and the heart will stop. (Dog Trust)

Dog Trapped in Hot Car – What You Should Do

What To Do if You See an Animal in a Warm or Hot Car

1. Dial 9-1-1 immediately! – This is the always first line of defense
2. Take down the car make, model and license plate number – Share it with the police
3. Notify the police of the make, model and license plate of the car – Write down the car’s information or take a photo
4. Stay with the car! Never walk away! — Stay until the police arrive. If you need to, ask more people to stay with you and support you, or replace yourself with someone else if you must go
5. If there are businesses nearby – Find the manager and notify them of the at-risk animal; ask them to make an announcement to find the owner of the car. Then go wait by the car, and don’t leave until the animal is safe.
6. If the police haven’t arrived and the animal is in distress — Find a witness (or several) who will support your assessment take the necessary steps to remove the suffering animal from the car, then wait for authorities to arrive. In several states, good Samaritan laws make it legal to remove animals from cars – but if it’s a matter of life and death – you decide what to do. Some states grant immunity to good Samaritans who must rescue pets in visible distress
7. If the animal is showing heat stroke symptoms – get them out of the heat to a cool place or inside an air-conditioned car, then to a veterinarian immediately. If you cannot take them yourself, bring them to an air-conditioned building and call animal control. Tell them it is an emergency. 
8. Try to cool the animal down – put them in a tub of cool water (not cold) up to two minutes to lower their body temperature slowly. You can also put them in front of an electric fan, with a wet towel over their body, applied to their stomach, chest and paws to lower their temperature. 

Watch Police Break the Window to Save a Dog Locked in Hot Car

DOG IN HOT CAR: Vet Locks Himself in Hot Car To Show What It’s Like | The Dodo

This vet sat inside of a hot car for 30 minutes to show what it’s like for a dog or cat — and discovered it was “unbearable.” 

It doesn’t have to be that warm outside for a car to become dangerously hot inside. Here are some facts:

• When it’s 72 degrees F outside — the temperature inside your car can heat up to 116 degrees Fahrenheit within an hour
• When it’s 80 degrees F outside — the temperature inside your car can heat up to 99 degrees Fahrenheit within 10 minutes
• Rolling down the windows has been shown to have little effect on the temperature inside a car

What Else You Can Do

1. Download and share the Humane Society’s hot car flyer (PDF) –  Don’t leave your pet in a parked car — you can order this in bulk from animalsheltering.org. 
2. Post the warning on your social media pages – Share this page about what to do if you see an animal in a hot car.
3. A guide on investigating heat-related illness and death: A Guide for Law Enforcement
4. Keep pets safe when it’s hot outside – See this helpful PDF, How To Keep Pets Safe in the Heat
5. Be ready to call for help – Have necessary phone numbers already in your cell phone, including the local animal control number and police department numbers for surrounding cities you frequent. Keep these numbers handy in your purse or glove compartment or programmed into your phone.