INDIANAPOLIS-- Indianapolis Animal Care Services launched a new campaign this week to educate people about the dangers of leaving animals in vehicles.
A red Jeep Cherokee will serve as a “billboard on wheels”, and will be parked at various Indy Parks locations over the next few weeks.
Decals on the vehicle include instructions of what you should do if you see an animal in a car on a hot day, and a thermometer in the windshield shows the temperature inside the car.
“If we have to we are going to break a window to get to the dog,” said Kim Wolsiffer, Deputy Chief of Enforcement Operations. “We don't want to see a dog dying. We don't want to see a dog in distress. We are going to get those animals out of there.”
IACS has received multiple calls about animals left alone in vehicles on hot days.
Thankfully, no animals have died this year as a result.
If you see an animal in distress inside a vehicle, call 911 immediately.
“We don't want people leaving pets in hot cars,” said Wolsiffer. “10-15 minutes is enough to raise the temperature inside a vehicle 30 degrees. So when it's 89 degrees outside, we're talking 30 degrees hotter.”
Wolsiffer emphasized that cracking the windows is not sufficient to cool down the inside of a vehicle during hot summer days.
