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Community Corner

Dog Dies in Hot Car; Animal Advocates Call for Better Education

"I think it happened out of ignorance," local veterinarian says.

Members of local rescue organizations want to educate the public about the dangers of leaving dogs in cars on hot days — even if it's just for a short while.

A Bridgehampton couple learned that lesson the hard way last week when they returned to their car and found their beloved dog dead.

Dr. Andrew Pepper, a house-call veterinarian based in Sag Harbor, said his clients told him it happened July 23, though he did not press them for details. He said they were a highly educated, professional couple who loved their dog, a Labrador-mix. "I think it happened out of ignorance."

If a couple like that could make that mistake, "we have to educate people better," he said.

Dogs left to their own devices will find a cool, shady spot, or dig in the dirt to cool off, Dr. Pepper said. But when they are subject to humans, dogs may find themselves unable to escape the heat. "All dogs are susceptible, because they can't sweat," he said. "Dogs are really poor at getting rid of heat."

He said that two or three times a year he learns of an area dog that dies from heat exhaustion. The dog may have been left in a car, or in one instance he recalls from 10 years ago, stuck in a cage outdoors in the sun.

During heat exhaustion, Dr. Pepper said, proteins in the brain begin to cook. And rather than dying immediately, a dog may die hours later from the damage that was done while in a hot car.

"April and May tend to be the most dangerous, when people don't think it's that hot out yet," he said. "By July and August, you don't see it anymore because people are aware of how hot it is."

The first hot day in May can catch dog owners off-guard, though. "A car gets hot very quickly," Dr. Pepper said.

"You don't have to be away long," Dorothy Frankel, a local animal advocate, said. "You can be away for five minutes."

Frankel, a Noyac resident who has served on the boards of the Southampton Animal Shelter and the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, said that cars can heat up rapidly on hot days, and she noted that temperatures were especially high on the South Fork last week. Cracking windows does not help, and even when windows are rolled all the way down the temperature in a vehicle can still spike, she said.

She said pet owners should take their dogs out of the car when running errands on hot days — or leave them at home in a cool house or in a fenced-in yard with plenty of shade.

"When you approach people who do it, usually they are very angry and they feel they know how to take care of their dog — and 'back off,'" Frankel said.

Just this past weekend, a couple became furious when she reported them in Sag Harbor Village, she said.

She found a dog in a parked car in sweltering heat, with the windows cracked just an inch. She alerted a traffic control officer, who contacted a police officer, she said. The police officer arrived at the same time the couple returned to their car, admitting they were gone for half an hour, according to Frankel. The officer wrote them a citation and lectured the couple.

Frankel said it is illegal to leave a pet in a vehicle during extreme temperatures, whether it be cold or hot. New York State agricultural law and Suffolk County law both prohibit confining a companion animal in a vehicle when it puts them in imminent danger of death or serious physical injury. Police officers are permitted to get the animals out of the vehicles if the owners are not present to do it themselves, she said.

Frankel encourages those who spot distressed animals in cars to call police. "If you saw a child in the car, you would immediately call the police. So it's really the same thing," she said.

Sony Schotland, who was a founder of both the Animals Rescue Fund of the Hamptons and the Southampton Animal Shelter, said people do not realize the danger they are putting their dogs in, and the fact that it is illegal. 

"Even a friend of mine who is a great animal lover got fined," Schotland, of Sag Harbor, said. "She had to go to court. It is a misdemeanor."

Statistics are not available on dog deaths in cars due to heat, Frankel said. "It is something that happens more often than not," she said. "And there are really not numbers on it, because who's reporting it to whom?"

Frankel wishes to eliminate the problem through increased public awareness, by spreading the word and having signs posted on streets and at parking lots.

"We're going to change how people are with their dogs in the summer," Frankel said.

Signs warning that "heat kills pets" are posted in many locations on the South Fork, including at the Bridgehampton Commons, along Main Street, Bay Street and in municipal lots in Sag Harbor Village, in the Macy's Petco parking lot in Hampton Bays, and at some beach parking lots. Frankel said several lawmakers and municipalities are already on board, and she is working with others toward adopting policies and posting more signs.

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