2 dogs, 3 cats locked in hot car Orange Park, FL (US) Incident Date: Sunday, Aug 6, 2006 County: Clay Local Map: available Disposition: Alleged Alleged: Krista Ernst

Case ID: 9700 Classification: Neglect / Abandonment Animal: cat, dog (non pit-bull) View more cases in FL (US) Login to Watch this Case

Animal Control says three cats and two dogs were left in a parked car with the window cracked over the weekend in the parking lot of an Orange Park Extended Stay motel.

The cats died, and the dogs were taken to the vet by their owner, and stayed the night.

The woman accused of animal cruelty wasn't arrested that day, but rather two days later when people called police and said the dogs were back in the parked car.

It was between 85 and 90 degrees outside.

Animal Control believes they had been in the car at least 30 minutes.

18-year-old Krista Ernst was arrested and charged with felony animal cruelty.

The dogs were taken to Animal Control.

Veterinarian Mitch Crystal is the Chief of Medicine at North Florida Veterinary Specialists.

He says the dogs probably couldn't have taken much more.

"Eventually that heat is going to become critical where it's going to start to literally cook their organs and cause organ failure," he said.

He says the pain level for animals depends on what organs fail first.

If the heat doesn't kill, it can cause serious damage.

And if you get the animal out of the car and in a cool place, that can be dangerous too.

"It can actually be brought down too much or too fast where they can become hypothermic where they have too low of a body temperature," said Mitchell.

As for the dogs taken from the parked car, Animal Control says one will probably be returned to the 18-year-old's mother, the owner of the pet.

The other dog is not theirs, but is microchipped, so Animal Control is looking for the owner.

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First Coast News - Sept 7, 2006

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