Two dogs dead, one in coma after left in hot car Columbia, SC (US) Incident Date: Monday, Jul 19, 1999 County: Richland Local Map: available Disposition: Alleged Alleged: Susan Morris

Case ID: 7372 Classification: Neglect / Abandonment Animal: dog (non pit-bull) View more cases in SC (US) Login to Watch this Case

Susan Morris has been charged with three counts of animal cruelty after two of her dogs died and another dog went into a coma after being locked in her car which was parked in the sun on Monday.

Morris has been charged but not arrested after Columbia police found the two Labrador retrievers dead in a parking lot along Forest Drive.

The third dog survived and was returned to Morris that Tuesday.

She had taken the dogs to the Ambassador Animal Hospital about 4:30 p.m. after making a frantic call to Dr Robert Edwards, veterinarian. Dr Edwards said, "She called me hysterical. Her three kids were holding the dogs, two are dead and the other possibly dying."

Morris told Edwards she left the three dogs in the GMC Suburban while she went into Sam's Club with her three children.

Morris said she had left the car running with the air conditioner running. It is believed one of the dogs that got loose in the car and turned off the car's ignition which shut off the cooling flow of air conditioning. She believes the 1 year old had gotten out of the cage in back and pulled the lanyard hanging from the ignition key, shutting the car off.

Dr Edwards said, "When that motor went off within 15 minutes those dogs could have been dead." He said the surviving dog was a lot bigger and didn't move around as much.

When Dr Edwards checked the surviving dog's temperature it was 106 degrees, the highest the thermometer can go. A dog's normal body temperature is 102 degrees. In less than five minutes the temperature was down to 104 degrees.

Pete, a 5 year old, was under constant medical care for three hours until he was reasonably sure Pete was in no immediate danger.

Neighborhood Map

For more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.

Back to Top

Add this case to:

Del.icio.us

|

Digg

|

Furl

|

References

The State, Columbia, SC - July 21, 1999

« SC State Animal Cruelty Map

Not sure what these icons mean? Click here.

Note: Classifications and other fields should not be used to determine what specific charges the suspect is facing or was convicted of - they are for research and statistical purposes only. The case report and subsequent updates outline the specific charges. Charges referenced in the original case report may be modified throughout the course of the investigation or trial, so case updates, when available, should always be considered the most accurate reflection of charges.

For more information regarding classifications and usage of this database, please visit the database notes and disclaimer.