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Though Dan Harkins the owner of Harkins Theaters put more thought into leaving his dog Tenga in his car while he tended to inspecting one of his theaters his dog was still at risk. He did however leave water and the windows rolled down, so I wouldn’t accuse the man of blatant neglect but more like not putting as much thought into the situation as he should have. Even with the windows rolled down the heat beaming through the glass of cars can make temperatures soar to over 115 degrees inside a car as the metal retains heat and radiates it in all directions.
Passers-by did the right thing and called police to report that there could have been a dog in stress overheating in a car and Dan Harkins was cited not only for leaving the dog in the car, but he ignorantly parked in a handicapped spot when he clearly does not have a handicap nor handicap sticker on his car. Dan Harkins is doing the right thing however and will be airing public service announcements at his theaters warning people not to leave pets in hot cars and this potential close call can help educate others.
Though we like to take our pets with us to more places than ever before we have to remember to never leave any pet locked in a car especially in the summer, in Arizona the temperatures often exceed 115 degrees on a hot day which can bring internal car temperatures to 140 degrees and can cause hyperthermia and death in a very short amount of time. Last year a police office left his K-9 dog in a car for hours and the dog died of hyperthermia due to his neglect, and pets die every year because of the same repeated mistakes. This misfortune doesn’t only affect pets, and is especially tragic when parents leave children in cars and its terribly sad that some little kids die every year from this.
Take care of your pets out there, and keep them safe. Do not leave them in cars even with windows rolled down (you really shouldn’t leave dogs in truck beds either).
-Justin Germino
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