Daily Archives: August 29, 2010

Don't Lock Your Pets In A Hot Car

Published August 29, 2010

A Hubbub public service announcement.

Shar Peis in a car (emdot/Flickr)

Happy dogs (emdot/Flickr)

I don’t have to tell you it’s hot. And any second grader who studies the greenhouse effect knows sunlight gets trapped in cars and heats up fast.

At Petco in Brighton today, I saw an SUV in the parking lot with two dogs locked inside. The windows were closed. It was 90 degrees outside, which means it could have been 120 degrees or hotter inside.

Animals in hot cars die.

I told the Petco manager, who said he had called Boston police to report the same issue three weeks ago — but the officers told him to “mind his own business.”

Animal cruelty is punishable with prison time and a fine. There is no specific Mass. law against locking animals in hot cars, however.

Don’t leave pets in your car on a warm day. Take them with you, or leave them safe at home.