Immigrant May Face Deportation For Locking Dog In Hot Car

Police officers rescued a puppy in Lawrenceville, Georgia, on Sunday after it remained locked inside an SUV without air conditioning for at least 30 minutes. The owner of the car, who is an immigrant, was arrested for animal cruelty and he is likely to face deportation.

While the temperature outside the car was 82 degrees Fahrenheit, it ranged between 94 to 100 degrees inside the stuffy vehicle, said Gwinnett County Police Cpl. Michele Pihera, who saved the animal. Without any open windows or air conditioner, the black and white curly-haired puppy was panting profusely in the backseat of the car, local news outlet WSB-TV reported.

After being rescued, the puppy was kept inside an air-conditioned building before the animal control took over. The local animal welfare agency still has the custody of the puppy and it has not been put up for adoption yet.

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The car owner, Fredy Dorantes Moreno, was taken into police custody when he came out of a nearby restaurant to check why his car was surrounded by the police officers. He appeared before the court Tuesday where the judge refused to grant him bail. Moreno's ethnicity was not revealed in the report.

According to the animal rights organization, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), a dog’s body is not as efficient in beating heat as humans. This is because they cool themselves by panting and sweating through the body parts not covered with fur such as their paw pads. Exposing them to extremely hot temperatures for merely 15 minutes can cause irreparable brain damage in dogs or even fatal heat strokes.

If you spot a dog trapped in a hot car without any sign of its owner around, the most humane thing to do is not abandon the creature without resolving the situation, the animal rights organization suggests on its website.

The first thing to do in such circumstances is to take down the car’s color, model, make, and license plate number. Next step is to try and reach the vehicle owener by enquiring in the nearest buildings. If that does not pan out, law enforcement or animal rights authorities should be alerted about the situation.

However, if the authorities are taking too long to arrive and the dog starts showing signs of weariness, you can try to rescue it on your own. But before you try to become the unsung hero, it is always wise to have a witness present on the scene who can corroborate the events when the police ask for a statement later on.

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Some of the symptoms severe heat stroke in dogs are restlessness, excessive thirst, thick saliva, rapid heartbeat, fever, vomiting, bloody diarrhea, heavy panting, lethargy, lack of appetite, discoloration of the tongue and lack of coordination. In case the animal’s condition continues to deteriorate, it should be immediately rushed into an air-conditioned building or a nearby hospital.

The dog should be provided ample water to drink, wrapped in a wet towel or put in a shallow pool of cold water to bring down its body temperature.