With summer weather in full swing, keeping cool is a priority for not only people, but also their four-legged friends.
One place to take extra consideration is in your vehicles. Temperatures can quickly rise in a parked vehicle, even left in the shade with partly opened windows, putting your dog (or cat) at risk of heat stroke.
"An animal can die in 10 minutes," said Sunshine Coast SPCA branch manager Shannon Broderick.
Dogs and cats cool themselves by panting and releasing heat through their paws. The upholstery in a vehicle will heat up to high temperatures, disabling a pet to cool itself down. Summer was slow to start on the Sunshine Coast, but temperatures have been as high as the mid 20s the past few weeks, climbing even more rapidly in a vehicle.
"I would challenge anyone to wear a fur coat, sit in the heat in their own parked car for 10 minutes with the window only slightly cracked and see how uncomfortable they are," said Broderick.
Every summer, the BC SPCA embarks on a public awareness campaign, reminding people of the dangers of leaving pets in vehicles, even if only for a few minutes.
Of the campaign, Broderick said she feels it is working, but she still receives calls of incidents seeing dogs left in hot vehicles.
"It's not a perfect world yet, but we definitely have been getting less calls than usual," she said. "I'm not sure if that means people are handling things themselves or people are finally leaving their animals at home on hot days."
Broderick said she wants people to understand the dangers and how little the SPCA can do in rescuing a pet found suffering in a vehicle.
"The SPCA is not authorized to enter a vehicle. It has to be an RCMP officer. The other sad part of this is that even the RCMP are not really allowed to break into the vehicle until the animal is almost dead," said Broderick. "It puts a strain on the public service people, certainly on the RCMP. It's a hard thing to deal with and watch.
"Most of the time what I end up doing is running around making mall announcements or announcements in a store or what have you because that's faster than actually getting an RCMP officer away from another situation."
When asked about penalties for those who do leave their animal at risk in a hot car, Broderick said they could possibly face animal cruelty charges and even imprisonment.
"It really comes down to the judge. You could get anywhere from a fine to jail time depending on the judge's decision, what kind of charges were laid, and what the full investigation looks like," said Broderick.
While the SPCA continues with their summer education campaign every summer, Broderick also continues to reiterate the simple way to prevent a pet from suffering heatstroke in a vehicle:
"Leave your dogs at home," she said.
For more information, visit the BC SPCA website at www.spca.bc.ca.
