A Compassionate Police Department Award is on its way from PETA to the Pensacola Police Department after officers rushed to save a puppy who was crying in distress from inside a parked car last week. Officers arrived on the scene and determined that the 3-week-old Cavalier King Charles spaniel—who was so young that her eyes hadn’t opened yet—was in danger, as temperatures inside the vehicle had reached over 100 degrees. Officer Anthony Giorgio smashed open the car’s window. “I would do the exact same thing again,” he said. “And I think anybody would under those circumstances.”
Pensacola police posted a photo of the dog along with the message “If you leave your dog in a hot car and that dog is suffering, we will do whatever we have to do to free him [or her] … and we will drop you off with the caring folks at the Escambia County Detention Facility.”
“A parked car can become a death trap for a dog in a matter of minutes, even on a relatively cool day and with the windows slightly rolled down,” says PETA Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “PETA hopes this story will inspire people everywhere to act immediately to save dogs just like this puppy from horrific, preventable deaths.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—joins the Pensacola Police Department in reminding all dog guardians never to leave any animal inside a parked car. On a 78-degree day, the temperature inside a parked car can soar to between 100 and 120 degrees in just minutes, and on a 90-degree day, the interior temperature can reach as high as 160 degrees in less than 10 minutes.
The police department will receive a framed certificate and a box of delicious vegan cookies.