Dogs in the car

I took a break this morning outside with a co-worker. We heard a dog barking and looked to see where it was coming from. We saw it in a car directly in front of us barking frantically with all of the windows of the car closed. Completely closed! We waited about 5 minutes and I decided to call the local police (yes, I used the non-emergency number). We waited another 10 minutes and before the cops showed up, the guy came out of the salon right next to us and got in the car and left. I still can't grasp that this man actually did this. There have been tons of psa's done by tons of different animal welfare groups regarding leaving animals in cars. You just DON'T do it!

Here are some facts from 2 articles I quickly found on www.humanesociety.org :

• on an 85 degree day, the temp in a car can increase to 102 degrees in just 10 minutes
• after 30 minutes on said day it can increase to 120 degrees
• on hot & humid days in direct sunlight, temperatures can increase 30 degrees PER MINUTE!
• on mild days, at 72 degrees the temp can increase more than 40 degrees per hour with 80% of that increase occurring within the first 30 minutes
• 110 degrees poses a danger of heatstroke in dogs
• cracked windows provide a minuscule benefit

Interestingly enough, some auto manufacturers are understanding the fact that some people are just stupid and need some type of alarm system in their vehicles for purposes such as this. General Motors has been working on a low-energy radar system since 2001 that will be able to detect motion as subtle as a baby breathing. The sensor will then trigger a unique horn alarm if the temp inside the vehicle registers at a dangerous level. The article from 2003 mentioned that GM hoped to introduce this mid-decade but I couldn't find any mention of it on GM's website. Perhaps they have turned their focus more to fuel efficiency and other forms of safety alarms.

To all of my friends, family, aquantances, and such - please do not leave your pets in your cars!