GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Leaving your pet unattended and without proper provision for their care is seen as animal cruelty in the eyes of the law. However, that doesn’t stop some pet owners from keeping their pets in a car for long periods of time.
Animals can die from heat stroke, dehydration or other serious health problems from being stuck inside a car.
It’s become such an issue that in recent years, legislation was made giving penalties to owners practicing this type of animal cruelty.
“It can—depending on circumstances—be as low as a 93 day misdemeanor, but all the way up to a four-year felony if the animal dies,” Sgt. Joel Roon of the Kent County Sheriff’s Office said.
While higher temperatures do make pet owners more aware, Roon debunked the myth that there is a certain temperature threshold that makes it safe to lock an animal in the car.
“We actually never recommend leaving your pet in the car. There are always unforeseen circumstances. You may think you're going to be gone a couple minutes, next thing you know you're gone for 30 and the temperature's spiked to a point where it's not survivable for that pet,” he said.
Roon added that many would be surprised how quickly a vehicle can heat up. Using one of the sheriff office’s car thermometers, which are instrumental in pet-trapped-in-car scenarios, 13 ON YOUR SIDE watched as the temperature went from 68 degrees to 108 degrees when left inside the vehicle for 10 minutes.
“Some people would say that I crack my windows. Cracking your windows doesn't do any good. The air still stays very stagnate inside the car. We know it doesn't circulate enough to alleviate the heat,” Roon said.
According to Roon, the best thing to do when you see a pet inside a car is to call the police and try to find the owner of the pet and or vehicle. Roon said the average, national response time for priority-one cases is about 11 minutes, but Kent County Sheriff’s Office averages significantly less.
“You can take down the license plate of the vehicle if for some reason the person comes out and leaves prior to our arrival, we can still follow up with that person to make sure the animal is okay,” he said.
The sergeant warned that taking matters into your own hands, like breaking into the car via a window, could result in a civil suit.
“In other words, the person could sue you for the damages to their window and a judge would decide if you had to pay for it,” Roon said.
With the summer months coming up, the Kent County Sheriff’s Office wants to remind bystanders to call local police if they see a pet trapped in a car.
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