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Case #9956 Rating: 2.0 out of 5
Dog dies in hot car
North Platte, NE (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Jun 30, 2005
County: Lincoln
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Leticia Kellar
A South Carolina woman paid a $100 fine for negligent care of an animal after the dog she left in the cab of her truck died last July.
Leticia Kellar, 41, from Hartsville S.C., pleaded guilty to animal neglect and paid the fine in Lincoln County Court. An additional charge of animal abandonment was dismissed by City Attorney Doug Stack in exchange for the plea.
Kellar was also ordered to pay more than $70 in court costs.
The dog was discovered inside the truck by Brenda Fleming and other employees at the Flying J Travel Plaza in North Platte last July.
Fleming said they could tell the 6-month old Border Collie was in distress as it jumped up against the window of the cab of the semi panting.
The employees weren't sure how long the truck had been parked in the parking lot but were sure it had been there "for some time." They said the truck was closed tight and none of the windows were cracked.
The employees called the police and reported the incident. Animal control officers arrived as did North Platte police officers. But by they time they got the truck opened, the dog was dead.
The dog's body was taken to a North Platte veterinarian, who performed an autopsy. The vet determined that the dog died from heat exhaustion.
The police contacted Shaffer Trucking, the name on the cab's door and learned that the driver Kellar had left the truck in the lot with her dog in it and traveled to Lincoln for training.
Kellar told officers that the truck's engine and air conditioner should have come on when the temperature reached a certain level but that the device that controls the automatic turn on failed.
Kellar had left water and food inside the cab for the dog but the heat inside the cab reached an estimated temperature above 120 degrees.
The vet determined the dog had been dead less than two hours when the autopsy was performed.
Kellar returned to North Platte and was cited for the charges.
Fleming said the death of the dog was upsetting to the staff at the Flying J.
"Several of us shed tears that afternoon and night for the little puppy," Fleming said. "I didn't sleep well that night."
An animal control spokesman said they respond every summer to numerous calls of dogs left in the car during the hot part of the day with closed windows. The spokesman said Kellar's Border Collie was the first casualty this year.
The spokesman said leaving dogs in closed cars in the summertime can be deadly. He said dogs sweat through their mouth and if they are forced to recycle the hot air from inside a car, it will slowly "cook" their internal organs.
The spokesman said pet owners should not leave pets in cars if it's over 80 degrees. He said some people think they shouldn't be left with temperatures over 70 degrees.
The spokesman suggests not leaving dogs in cars even for a few minutes and even with the windows cracked. He said that helps only if there's a breeze. When the humidity is high, a closed car is no place to keep a dog, the spokesman said. References
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