An Ohio police officer reportedly forced a woman to sit in a hot car earlier this month to prove a point about the effect of leaving pets unattended in a car.
On April 12, police responded to a call of a dog locked in a
hot car in a Wal-Mart parking lot, the Cleveland Sun News police blotter reported. When the owner returned, she showed that the dog was fine, but the officer reportedly told the woman to sit inside the warm Nissan with the windows up and the engine off.
Though the woman said she was fine, the officer noted that she looked uncomfortable, the Sun News said.
The woman received a warning for her actions. She and the officer were unidentified.
While adults feel uncomfortable in hot, cramped conditions, the heat can be deadly for a pet or a child. Dogs are especially vulnerable to high temperatures "because they can only cool off by panting and through the pads of their feet,"
according to Red Rover, a non-profit dedicated to helping animals in crisis.
Leaving a child unattended in a hot car in unacceptable in any situation, as they could be in danger within minutes.
"On a day that is just 72 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature [inside a car] can increase by 30 to 40 degrees in an hour, and 70 percent of this increase occurs the first 30 minutes," Christopher Haines, DO, director of pediatric emergency medicine at
St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, told WebMD.