Dogs in Fort Worth, Texas, are a little safer now that the city council strengthened its animal and fowl ordinance.
The council now allows animal control officers to break into vehicles to rescue an animal whose health they believe is in danger.
People who leave unattended pets in vehicles may be fined up to $2,000. They will also have to pay for repairs for the window if animal control officers must break it. And the officers don't need a warrant before they break the window.
Here's the article from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
I've lived in Texas and I know what the inside of a car feels like there after it's been sitting out in the sun. I simply can't imagine what goes through a dog-owner's mind that they can rationalize leaving their dog in a vehicle for any length of time.
But I've seen people up here in the more temperate northeast leave dogs in cars while they run in to a store.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said that even on a 70-degree day the temperature inside a car can be about 20 degrees higher than it is outside.
Don't take your dog shopping if you can't take the pooch in the store with you.
As an experiment on the next sunny day, put on your heavy winter coat, get in your car, roll up all the windows and see what it feels like.
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1 comment:
I absolutely agree with that new Texas Law. Police and Animal Welfare Officers here, in New York (actually, all of the USA), should be allowed to smash windows and free animals in distress from cars, too. Anyone so irrisponsible as leaving an animal in a hot car, should have to pay a hefty fine for the 1st offense and lose ownership rites after 2nd offense.
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