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IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — East Idaho law enforcement agencies have seen an increase in dogs being left in hot cars as summer temperatures have arrived in the region.
Police say they have no tolerance for such behavior on the part of dog owners and will file criminal charges against anyone who puts their canine at such risk of harm, the Idaho State Journal reported.
In at least two recent cases, police have filed animal cruelty charges against individuals who left their dogs in hot cars.
The most severe case thus far occurred in Idaho Falls on Thursday afternoon when a pit bull left unattended in a parked car was found dead, police said.
Temperatures in East Idaho on Thursday topped 90 degrees and Idaho Falls animal control personnel who found the dead canine in the car on Masters Drive said the vehicle’s interior was as hot as 156 degrees.
Police said they have no idea how long the female pit bull was in the vehicle before it succumbed to an apparent heat stroke.
Animal control officers located the pit bull’s owner, Latasha Rae Calvert Hood, 26, of Idaho Falls, and cited her for misdemeanor animal cruelty. If convicted she faces a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Bannock County Sheriff Lorin Nielsen said the region’s law enforcement officers are not hesitating to criminally charge dog owners for leaving their canines in hot cars because it’s a crime against a defenseless animal that should never happen.
Nielsen said anyone who leaves their dog in such a situation in Bannock County will face an animal cruelty charge.
“We’ll absolutely charge them,” Nielsen said. “Whenever you see cruelty to those that can’t defend themselves, that’s an outrage.”
In Rexburg on Wednesday police cited Joseph Hill, 44, of St. Anthony, with misdemeanor animal cruelty after he allegedly left his two dogs unattended in his parked car in the Broulim’s supermarket parking lot.
One of the car’s windows was down a couple inches, but police said temperatures inside the vehicle were still 115 to 120 degrees. Officers were so concerned about the safety of the two dogs that they accessed the car’s interior to let the dogs out and give them water.
The canines were OK and when police located Hill inside Broulim’s he was cited for animal cruelty.
Rexburg police said they responded to another incident the week before in which they had to rescue another dog left in a hot car.
East Idaho law enforcement agencies said they’re going to have zero tolerance for such lapses in judgment by pet owners.
“We’ll have no tolerance,” said Rexburg police Capt. Randy Lewis. “If we get called to them, we’re going to cite for a misdemeanor. We are watching, regardless of whether they’ve got the car running and the air condition running — there won’t be any warnings.”
Lewis said the same zero tolerance policy will apply to people who leave children in hot vehicles.
On Friday Idaho Falls police issued a warning to pet owners to not leave their animals in hot vehicles even for short periods of time.
Idaho Falls police stated in a press release that according to the American Veterinary Medical Association hundreds of dogs perish every year as a result of being left in hot vehicles.
“Temperatures in your vehicle can rise almost 20 degrees in only 10 minutes,” Idaho Falls police said. “The longer the duration, the higher the temperatures get. After 60 minutes, the temperature inside a vehicle can be up to 40 degrees higher than the temperature outside. Cracking the windows at these temperatures does not help.”
The Standard Journal and East Idaho News contributed to this report.
