2 dogs left in hot car while owners shopped
Boulder, CO (US)Incident Date: Friday, Aug 10, 2007
County: Boulder
Disposition: Alleged
Case Images: 1 files available
Alleged: David Janowitz
Animal-control officers removed two dogs from a vehicle in the Whole Foods parking lot in Boulder on Friday after getting a tip that the animals were inside without water or much air. It was the fourth such call of the day in the city.
The pet owners - a husband and wife shopping for groceries with their infant at the time - didn't respond to several pages over the store's loudspeaker and found an empty vehicle when they returned to the parking lot after 3 p.m. They also found a ticket for animal neglect taped to their SUV's window and a notice that their two dogs had been impounded.
"They're obviously hot," said Janee Teague, supervisor for Boulder Animal Care and Control, before wrangling the panting canines from the vehicle.
A passer-by called police about the possibly overheated dogs about 2:30 p.m. The caller opened the car's unlocked doors and rolled down the windows to give the animals more air until officers arrived, Teague said. The owners returned to their vehicle just in time to confront the officers before they pulled away. With the two dogs crated in the back of an animal-control van, Teague lectured the couple about pet care on hot days. "I've been on scene for more than 35 minutes," Teague told the couple. "A dog is a living thing." Both dogs were returned to the couple in the parking lot, but only after officers issued a ticket for animal neglect - an allegation the owners dispute.
David Janowitz, 31, of Nederland, said he and his wife were inside Whole Foods only briefly, and they take good care of their dogs - a German shepherd-Labrador mix named Avi and a Rottweiler-Lab mix called Cali. "My dogs are treated fine," Janowitz said, adding: "It's no one's business how we treat our animals."
The temperature recorded in the vehicle when authorities decided to let the dogs out was 96.6 degrees, said animal-control officer Scott Macdonald. References« CO State Animal Cruelty Map
« More cases in Boulder County, CO
|
