With the doors shut, and the air stagnating, temperatures within a hot car can top 170 degrees Fahrenheit.
It’s no environment for a human, let alone a small animal, through countless pets are left to die in these conditions year after year.
In New York, recently, 29-year-old Roger Chilson was arrested after allegedly leaving his dog in a vehicle where the internal temperature rose above 110 degrees. 5-year-old Shadow couldn’t handle the extreme heat, and after about 50 minutes, the Boxer mix passed away.
Temperatures inside a hot car can be much higher than outside.
According to Inside Edition, the vehicle was turned off, and Shadow was left with little ventilation as the sun beat down on the car. He was dead before officials from the Ontario County Humane Society even arrived on the scene.
“The temperature of a car goes up incrementally, very rapidly,” Ontario County Humane Society Chief Bill McGuigan told InsideEdition.com. “A normal dog’s body temperature is around 101, 102 [degrees]. Anything over 103 and a half is life threatening.”
A number of animals every year die from being left in hot cars.
Chilson has been charged with felony aggravated cruelty to an animal, and lodged in the Ontario County Jail.
Chief McGuigan insists that tragic events like these can easily be prevented.
“Leave your pet at home,” he said. “It’s one thing if you’re stopping to run into a gas station or convenience store to grab a bottle of pop.”
Animal deaths in hot cars can always be prevented.
Leave an animal in a hot car for longer than that, though, and the results are often fatal. As the AVMA reports, even when the outside air temperature is as low as 70 degrees, the temperature inside a car can climb above 110 in just an hour.
Even outside of summer, people who leave their animals inside hot cars are taking big risks.
“You’re taking a chance in that dog may die,” McGuigan said.
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