Donna Yan peers into a car window, almost knowing what she will find.
Sure enough, there is a dog in there, the windows of the car open just a tiny crack, the animal panting listlessly.
“This is a life-or-death situation,” Ashtabula County Dog Warden Yan said. “You would be surprised at how fast the temperatures escalate in a car. It doesn’t take long for the dog to become distressed.”
From May through September, Yan responds to call after call to help dogs shut in cars in the hot summer heat.
“I see more of this than I want to, you know, the kids or pets in the car syndrome,” she said.
When the sun is bright and the temperatures are high, Yan carries a digital thermometer with her almost everywhere she goes to measure the temperatures in cars where dogs are left to wait, and pant.
“I keep a digital thermometer with me and I put it in the car and wait 10 minutes. Even on days when the weather seems cooler, a car parked in the direct sun will read very hot,” she said.
Yan is working on two court cases where people left a dog in a car.
“I’ve got one where the dog was left in the Jefferson Courthouse parking lot,” she said. “I put the thermometer in that car and in 10 minutes it read 101 degrees. That is a life-threatening situation for a dog.”
Yan said some people leave food and water in car with the dog.
“But that doesn’t help, and neither does leaving the windows open a little bit,” she said. “It is hot inside the car, it is hot outside the car. Opening the windows a little with the hot air doesn’t help much at all.”
Yan said anyone who sees a dog locked in a car should immediately call local law enforcement for assistance.
“Call the local police and we will come out immediately. It is a life-or-death situation most of the time,” she said.
Yan also encourages local police to cite the owners of the pet for animal cruelty.
“This is a common sense lesson,” she said. “I think it is necessary to cite a person who would leave kids or pets in cars.”
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