Officer C. Morris of the Riverside, California, Animal Control Unit got a call to check on a report of a pet left in a parked car on a hot and sunny day. She arrived on the scene to hear tiny cries coming from inside a white Impala with its windows open only about an inch on each side. When she looked inside her heart broke – an 8- to 10-week-old pit bull puppy was locked inside.
Officier Morris immediately called her superior. “I called my sergeant to make him aware of what was going on,” she said. “He rolled out to assist me so that we could get the puppy out of the vehicle.”
It breaks and angers our hearts to read stories like this one – why would someone ever leave a puppy in a hot car? But stories like this also remind us that there are many good, caring people in the world, like the officers who saved this dog from a vehicle-turned-oven, and the kind people at the veterinary hospital who gave it a bath, a fan, and water to help the tiny creature recover.
“This puppy was very fortunate,” Officer Morris said. “We were able to get the puppy out of the vehicle in time.”
Unfortunately, she has witnessed firsthand how things don’t always turn out so well. “I have taken dogs out of cars that were unconscious, and then when we took them to the vet they were determined to be brain dead,” she said. “So it can end devastatingly. I don’t know how the public is not aware of it. If you wouldn’t leave your child in a vehicle this hot, why would you leave an animal? It can’t regulate its body temperature.”
Thanks to Officer Morris, Sergeant Gates, and the people at the veterinary hospital, this almost tragic story had a good outcome.
The owner was fined $140 and said he’d never leave a dog in a hot vehicle again.
We hear way too many stories like this one, but we hope that by sharing them more people will become aware of the dangers of leaving their dogs in their cars. Hopefully one day soon there stories will be a thing of the past.
Were you happy to see this little puppy rescued? So share this!