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Article Archive > Summer heat, closed cars spell danger for dogs Summer heat, closed cars spell danger for dogs WALL - Driving through a Route 35 shopping plaza one morning earlier last week, Susan Sheare noticed the window of a car rolled down about 2 inches and a black dog inside, struggling to keep cool. It was about 80 degrees. Sheare pulled to the side and called township police to report the incident. When the officer arrived, Sheare left, but the incident left her upset. "It was just ridiculous," said Sheare, 44, who used to work by herself and with some rescue groups helping animals when she lived in Pennsylvania. "You hear on the radio stations all the time about not leaving your pet in the car." While township police do not keep specific statistics on these types of incidents, Victor "Buddy" Amato, chief humane law enforcement officer for the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said he has been responding to calls for the last several weeks. This week, Amato was called to a shopping plaza in Holmdel in response to a similar incident. "This is really a statewide problem," Amato said Thursday. "If it's 90 degrees outside, that means it will be 125 degrees in the car. We tell people, "Don't use your car as a microwave because that's what you are doing to your animal.' " With the hot weather, high temperatures and humidity during the last week, the incidents of dogs being left in cars has increased, and those calls have Amato and his investigators traveling throughout the county. Whether the owner is gone for two minutes, 15 minutes or an hour, the penalty for leaving a dog in the car in warm weather is the same. It includes a $1,000 fine, a possible 30-day jail sentence, community service and a ban on owning animals for five years. In almost all cases, Amato said, it's loving, caring pet owners who are fined. The problem, he said, is that owners always think that they will return in less than five minutes or that the dog would be lonely if left behind at home. "Even if you're only running into the coffee store and return in two or three minutes, it's too long," Amato said. "If you're only going to be gone that long, the smart thing to do is just leave your dog at home." |