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It happened right in the parking lot of the DMV.
An alert observer saw two dogs inside two cars, and reported it. Police in South Salt Lake came immediately. They opened the car doors and tried rescuing the dogs; unfortunately, they were not in time of one of them.
A chihuahua had become so overheated that it suffered damage; and its back legs are now paralyzed. The tiny pooch was taken from its owner. Another small dog, a Maltese, fared better. Although overheated, its condition had not yet reached the life threatening stage, and the dog was returned to its owner
It was not the only dog rescue from an overheated car Thursday. Police also had to rescue a third dog. The owners of all three pooches were given a ticket for animal cruelty.
While warnings against leaving children in cars are familiar to most people, there are few warnings about the danger to animals. The temperature in a car, even with the windows cracked, can reach 120 degrees or more during an ordinary sunny summer day. During a heat wave with temps in the 90's, as they have been this week, a car can get cooking hot within a few minutes, even with the windows cracked.
A dog's system can not eliminate heat by sweating, as humans do, and they are very susceptible to warm temperatures. They can only get rid of heat by panting, which is a slow process. If a dog's body temperature reaches a certain point, usually between 105 and 107 degrees, paralysis or death can occur. Even if the dog is alive when rescued and immediately cooled off, the physical processes already going on inside the animal's body can not be stopped or reversed.
Coming back to a car to find a beloved dog dead, and getting a ticket for allowing it to happen, is a high price to pay for leaving it inside a car, even momentarily.
Reference:ABC 4
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