5 week old puppy locked in hot car
Fayetteville, NC (US)

Incident Date: Monday, Jul 31, 2006
County: Cumberland

Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Josefina Q. Garcia

A 5-week-old puppy was rescued July 31 from a locked vehicle, where the temperature inside measured 115 degrees, on Maiden Lane.

City police charged the owner, Josefina Q. Garcia, 31, of the 1100 block of Charlie Drive, with cruelty to animals.

The puppy was taken and checked by a veterinarian and was said to be doing well, Sue Nicholson said. She is director of Cumberland County Animal Control.

A security guard for the Cumberland County Headquarters Library found the puppy inside the vehicle about 1:15 p.m., said Jamie Smith, a spokeswoman for the Police Department.

The guard tried unsuccessfully to find the owner and called the fire department, Smith said.

When firefighters from Station 1 on Person Street arrived, they found all four doors locked and three of the windows opened between 1 and 3 inches, said Chris Morey, battalion commander.

The police were called, Morey said, and firefighters managed to slip some water to the puppy, a pit bull mix, through a window. Police managed to open the vehicle door, Smith said.

Morey said the puppy's temperature registered 109 degrees on a fire department meter, but it was down to 99.7 degrees, normal for a dog, by the time it got to the doctor, Nicholson said.

Police said the puppy was probably inside the vehicle for about 20 minutes before it was rescued and the owner showed up. 

The high temperature was 98 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. That's hot enough to prove fatal to animals, a release from the Fayetteville Animal Protection Society said.

On an 85-degree day, the temperature inside a parked car can reach 100 degrees or higher in less than 10 minutes, the release said.

Any animal left in a parked car for any amount of time can suffer heat stroke, heat exhaustion, brain damage or death.

References

• Fayetteville Observer - Aug 2, 2006

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