It’s a hot day, you’re running errands around town and you think it’s a great idea to give your collie a trip through the city. After all, it loves to stick its head out the window as you’re driving.
But when you get to your destination, your vehicle is the last place you should leave your pet.
So says Shawna Randolph, media spokesperson for the Edmonton Humane Society. She wants to remind people that the way that animals regulate internal temperatures is different than humans, and it exacerbates the heat inside the vehicle.
“When they’re panting, they’re heating up the air as well, and it has nowhere to circulate,” she began. “It becomes like an oven.”
She said that, lately, the society’s two animal protection officers have been responding to about 20 calls of pets left in cars each day. A week or two ago, one such incident involved the pet’s owner working out at a gym.
“They were just about at the point of having the police breaking in the vehicle when the person came out. They said, ‘My vehicle was parked in the shade and I had the window cracked opened a little bit and it’s only about 22 C’ … They didn’t realize how quickly temperatures inside a vehicle can soar.”
The good news is that often it only takes a few minutes to find that the owner was close by and just got held up somewhere. Once located, they receive a quick lesson in pet care.
On a warm day, the temperature inside a vehicle parked in the shade with the windows cracked open can still reach 39 C within 10 minutes. At the half-hour mark, it can reach 49 C.
Both dogs and cats pant, but that makes it even harder for them to cool off in hot vehicles because they can only breathe in overheated air. In just a short time, the animal can suffer heat stroke, severe brain damage or even death.
Leaving the air conditioning on is also not the answer since it can fail. Randolph suggested that the only sensible thing to do is to leave a person in the car with the pet.
If an animal is in distress in a hot vehicle, regardless of how long it takes, the animal’s owner might be subject to a fine of $20,000. That person can also be banned from owning pets for the rest of his or her life under the Animal Protection Act of Alberta, or face up to six months in jail under the Criminal Code of Canada.
If you have a concern about an animal that appears to be in imminent danger and is showing signs of distress, local residents are encouraged to call the St. Albert RCMP at 780-458-7700.
Randolph also encouraged everyone to download and print off a notice from the society’s website at www.edmontonhumanesociety.com to leave on people’s vehicles to help educate the public about the dangers of pets left in cars.
For more information, call the Edmonton Humane Society at 780-471-1774.
