Over the summer, the AHS receives dozens of calls about animals that have been left in cars in the heat.
It’s sad to realize that people don’t seem to understand how dangerous this is for their pets. It can actually lead to a pet’s death in less than fifteen minutes, as experts explain.
“Animals can suffer and die from heatstroke in just 15 minutes, even with the car’s windows partially rolled down. Parking in the shade and leaving water in the vehicle won’t help.”
Only a couple of weeks ago, agents rescued 47 cats from a parked car, on a day when there was a heat advisory in effect.
“Thankfully, it was still early enough in the morning,” Ashley Pudas with the Animal Humane Society told CBS Minnesota, “when the heat hadn’t really started to kick in, so that was working in our favor.”
As the news source revealed, the car was found parked at the rest stop and witnesses called the Chisago County Sheriff’s Office and Minnesota State Patrol officers, who, in turn, notified the Animal Humane Society.
The agents soon arrived at the rest stop and found nearly 50 cats in the car. As they later on found out, the cats had been living with their owner in the car for quite some time.
The cats’ ages varied from less than a year to more than 12 years old.
And, although at the time when agents arrived at the rest stop, the owner of the car and the cats was not there, the person was found soon and they were cooperative.
The owner handed the cats to investigators, who took the animals to the AHS, where they were checked up by vets. Luckily, none of the cats had any serious health issues. Some of them do have minor medical issues, but they were taken care of right away and they will soon be healthy again.
The AHS has since been taking care of the cats until they are all ready to be given up for adoption.
It is worth noting that, some time earlier, another 14 cats had been removed from the same vehicle and were taken to a local rescue organization.
Thankfully, this story didn’t involve any animal death, but it is important to highlight that people should be ready to take action when they see that there is an animal alone in a car during the summer.
First of all, the model of the car, along with the color and license plate should be taken down, and the owner should be looked for in the buildings around.
In the meantime, the local humane authorities or the police should be called, while witnesses should call 911 immediately if they believe that the animal is in distress.
As a last resort, if the owner cannot be tracked down and if authorities are too slow while the animal seems to be suffering, witnesses that can back up each other’s assessment should try to remove the animal from the car.
Let’s hope that no more animals will suffer this year.
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