GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A dog left inside a parked car in a shopping center lot was pulled out by animal control officers after a caller reported the animal had been shut inside for roughly 15 minutes, according to police.
The car sat in the Walmart lot on Lawrenceville Highway in Lilburn around 3 p.m. Sunday with the engine off and a window cracked.
An officer reached through the gap, unlocked the door and got the dog water before animal control moved it into a cooled animal control vehicle.
“There’s no A/C. The dog was barking when I got here,” an officer said on bodycam video.
Katrina Helman is the division director at Gwinnett County Animal Welfare and Enforcement. She said a cracked window does almost nothing.
“It just kind of delays what’s taking place, but not significantly enough that it may save the animal’s life,” Helman said.
Helman said that at 70 degrees outside, the inside of a car reaches 89 degrees in 10 minutes and 104 degrees in 30. Dogs cool themselves by panting, she said, and in a sealed car the air runs out fast.
“Anything as simple as the dog getting sick or panting all the way to fatality. It does not take as long as people think it may,” Helman said.
Nobody returned to the car for close to 15 minutes on Sunday. The owners were cited for leaving an animal unattended in a parked vehicle and given a court date. The dog went home with the owners the same day.
Officers have written 13 citations of this kind since May 1.
“We usually do see an uptick. So this month and August will probably be greater than that,” Helman said. “If you wouldn’t leave a child in the car to run whatever errand you’re running, you shouldn’t leave the dog in the car either.”
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