Pet-Abuse.Com - Animal Abuse Case Details: Two dogs, two puppies locked in hot car for hour

Two dogs, two puppies locked in hot car for hour
Fort Myers, FL (US)

Incident Date: Monday, Jul 17, 2006
County: Lee
Local Map: available
Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: David Wayne Higginbotham

Case Updates: 2 update(s) available

Case ID: 9303

Classification: Neglect / Abandonment

Animal: dog (non pit-bull)

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Two adult dogs and two puppies are fighting for their lives after David Higginbotham allegedly left the dogs locked up in a car while he went inside a store for an hour.

The incident happened at the Wal-Mart on Six Mile Cypress and Colonial Boulevard around 10 a.m. on July 17.

Higginbotham returned to the car and found his dogs in distress. He took them to the garden center and used water to try to cool the dogs down.

Officer Nancy Mulligan of the Fort Myers Police Department was working nearby when she saw what was happening. She is a former K-9 officer and realized the dogs were in serious distress. She got a hose and tried to cool down the dogs with the water.

Three of the four dogs are not doing very well. They are being cared for by veterinarians at the Coral Veterinary Hospital on Cypress Lake Drive.

Vets are using baths, IVs and steroids to try to save them, but they suffered neurological damage and cannot walk or stand.

The veterinarian said the high temperature, possibly between 135 and 140 degrees, cooked their internal organs.

Higginbotham has been charged with animal abuse.

Case Updates

Officer Nancy Mulligan arrested David Higginbotham at a Fort Myers Wal-Mart for animal neglect after he allegedly left four German Shepherds in a truck for about an hour last month. Temperatures in the vehicle reached an estimated 130 degrees.

The dogs were treated at a veterinary clinic. At the time, they were unable to stand, their pupils were dilated and they were very shaky.

Now, a month later, the dogs are doing just fine.

Last week a judge ordered Higginbotham to give the dogs up and agree not to own another pet for six months.

"I think it's a small victory for the community and really a large victory for the animals," said Officer Nancy Mulligan of the Fort Myers Police Department.

The celebration is short lived, though. NBC2 has learned two of the four dogs may be put down.

"A couple of them are getting a little aggressive. Depends if they calm down or not whether they will be placed up for adoption or not," said Lance Raiche of Lee County Animal Services.

The two dogs are being held in the "bad dog" section of Lee County Animal Services. The two were somewhat aggressive when they first arrived, but being locked up for five weeks hasn't helped.

The county will not release aggressive dogs because of the liability.

"Had we not stepped in, had the county and animal control not stepped in, I believe these animals would have been dead," said Mulligan.

We asked Mulligan about the dogs possibly being put down.

"That may be a possibility but that's something that can't be foreseen considering the damage that they may have incurred from the sun and the heat," said Mulligan.

"Sometimes it doesn't work out and sometimes it's the best for the animal and the best for the public," said Raiche.

Higginbotham's sister inquired about adopting the dogs. However, after being told the dogs would be neutered and spayed per state law, she has not filled out the paperwork.

Source: News Channel 2 - Aug 22, 2006
Update posted on Aug 23, 2006 - 2:28PM

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Four dogs that had been left for nearly an hour in a truck with closed windows and temperatures near 140 degrees inside are doing better, a veterinarian said.

The German shepherds � two of them 6-month-old puppies � had been left inside the vehicle, parked at Wal-Mart, 4770 Colonial Boulevard in Fort Myers, on Monday.

David Wayne Higginbotham, 46, of Cape Coral was charged with four counts of animal cruelty, and was also served an warrant for failure to appear on an unrelated charge of animal nuisance.

Higginbotham was being held Tuesday at the Lee County Jail on $40,000 bond, with a court date scheduled for Aug. 8.

An off-duty Fort Myers police officer working security at the store Monday morning was notified by a citizen that the dogs were in the truck. When the officer got to the vehicle, she reportedly saw Higginbotham dousing the unresponsive animals with water from a plastic container.

Higginbotham told police he was taking the dogs to a kennel because his roommate was abusing them. He stopped at Wal-Mart to get flea and tick control, which he said the kennel requested in order to accept the dogs.

A Wal-Mart camera shows him entering the store at 9:58 a.m., and a receipt shows his purchase was made at 10:52 a.m.

Police said he also delayed emergency care by initially refusing to sign a release form so a veterinarian could attempt to save and treat them.

Kimm Pontiff, hospital manager at Coral Veterinary Hospital on Cypress Lake Drive where the dogs were first treated, said they barely survived.

"When they first got here, they were in very bad shape," Pontiff said. "The adult dogs were showing neurological signs, their pupils were dilated, they were unable to stand, the male was vomiting."

The dogs were treated with IV fluid, placed in a cool water bath and given steroids so their body temperatures � which were five degrees higher than normal � could stabilize.

The two puppies were turned over to Lee County Animal Services on Monday afternoon, and the two adult dogs were taken there Tuesday morning, Pontiff said.

Before they were released, Pontiff said the animals were standing, alert, responsive and eating, although it may be too soon to determine if they might suffer long-term damage.

Source: The News-Press - July 19, 2006
Update posted on Jul 19, 2006 - 10:39AM

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NBC News - July 17, 2006

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Two dogs, two puppies locked in hot car for hourFort Myers, FL (US)

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Two dogs, two puppies locked in hot car for hour
Fort Myers, FL (US)