{"id":1393,"date":"2017-05-31T23:57:09","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T23:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/pets\/legalized-mayhem-state-law-permits-breaking-a-car-window-to-save-overheated-pets\/"},"modified":"2017-05-31T23:57:09","modified_gmt":"2017-05-31T23:57:09","slug":"legalized-mayhem-state-law-permits-breaking-a-car-window-to-save-overheated-pets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/pets\/legalized-mayhem-state-law-permits-breaking-a-car-window-to-save-overheated-pets","title":{"rendered":"Legalized Mayhem: State Law Permits Breaking a Car Window to Save Overheated Pets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u00a0\"Constantinos\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Image courtesy of Canstantinos.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

Summer hasn\u2019t come to bloom yet, but the sun\u2019s been high in the heavens and the days are getting longer, with more frequent periods of heat. And well-meaning pet owners figure that if the window is open a crack, the dog\u2019ll be just fine.<\/p>\n

Not remotely so. Veterinarian Carl Palazzolo\u2019s recent Long Beach Post <\/i>article, \u201cHeatstroke in Dogs\u2014A Caution for the Upcoming Hot Months\u201d<\/a>, warns that refracted rays from the sun through a window will heat up the car and subject an animal to sunstroke. The physics of this, which I remotely understand (here\u2019s what I found online<\/a>), and the information from Dr. P.\u2019s article inform us that a pet can poach to death if left inside a car for even a couple of minutes. It takes that short a time. And the hotter it gets, the quicker this can happen even if the outside air doesn\u2019t feel like Death Valley.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven on a day when it\u2019s [only] 70 degrees outside, the temperature inside a car can hit 90 degrees in just 10 minutes,\u201d said Stephen Wells, executive director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund<\/a> (ALDF). \u201cOn a hot day, the temperature inside a closed car can shoot as high as 116 degrees in the same amount of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Five<\/p>\n

Image courtesy of Petfinder.com<\/a>\u00a0<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

Animal-welfare and legal websites dealing with car deaths in dogs have recorded at least one incident in which a pet died after having been left in a car for just a couple of minutes. The best thing for pet owners to do to prevent tragedy is to bring him or her with you wherever you go. If that\u2019s not possible, leave the pet home while you\u2019re running errands. And I know that hackles will bristle at this, but if a pet\u2019s in distress and someone sees it and the police can\u2019t get there fast enough, any concerned citizen is allowed to smash the window and retrieve the animal.<\/p>\n

Strains of \u201cWhaaaaat? Not my #$%^ car!\u201d enter my mind\u2019s ear. Response: yes, your car, and the Smasher Samaritan is protected by AB 797 (\u00a0Steinorth. Motor vehicles: rescue or provision of care for animal: civil and criminal liability<\/a>). The bill, signed into law in 2016, is an amendment to the State Penal Code section 597.7, addressing trespassing. ALDF cites eight states, including California, that have passed laws that allow any person to break a car window to save a pet. Note that at least in six of the states, again including California, police must be contacted before the break-in in order for it to be considered legal.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalling 911 is the first step to saving that animal\u2019s life,\u201d Wells emphasized.<\/p>\n

Wells also suggested letting the owner of a dog in a hot car know that \u201ceven if it\u2019s a pleasant day outside, the temperature inside the car can skyrocket fast. Cracking a window doesn\u2019t eliminate the risk of heatstroke or death.\u201d Of course, a lot of us know how that can turn out. People I know, me included, have warned dog owners of potentially dangerous situations and are either blown off or told in varying degrees of civility to mind our own damn business, much as they do when they\u2019re warned against dangerous situations involving or behavior by their small children. Happily, this doesn\u2019t faze animal people by any means.<\/p>\n