Warm weather an intense danger for animals in cars

MaoMao’s yelps from inside the hot pickup truck’s cab alerted passersby to her suffering.

The 8-week-old puppy’s kennel sat in direct sunlight. Water was nowhere in sight. The Pomeranian’s owner was inside Shopko.

Nearly 45 minutes later, the pup’s owner emerged to angry pet lovers and an animal control officer who had responded and rescued the puppy from the heat.

“It’s a good thing it wasn’t hotter outside,” said Nancy Hill, director of Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Services, of MaoMao’s recovery.

With the return of summer weather, animal care officials would like to remind pet owners to leave their animals at home while shopping, dining out or running quick errands.

“Cars can become death traps for pets much more quickly than most people are aware,” Hill said in a press release. “The temperature in a vehicle on a warm day can reach 120 degrees in a matter of minutes, even with the windows cracked. Your pet can quickly suffer brain damage or die from heatstroke or suffocation when trapped in high temperatures.”

The temperature inside the truck where MaoMao was trapped last week registered 95.6 degrees, officials said. The puppy’s temperature was nearly four degrees higher than normal, which was after she had been soaked in cool water and had ridden in an air-conditioned vehicle to the veterinarian’s office.

The puppy’s owner, Lin Marie Erickson, a 51-year-old Spokane woman, was charged with transportation and confinement of an animal in an unsafe manner, a misdemeanor that carries up to a $1,000 fine and/or 90 days in jail, Hill said.

The witness who called animal control to report the illegal behavior did the right thing, Hill said. “If you see a pet left in a car exhibiting any signs of heat stress, call your local animal care and control agency immediately.”

Kim David said the decision to call was obvious to her because she’s passionate about proper animal care.

“You should have to have a license to have children or own a pet,” she said.

David arrived at Shopko around 2:20 p.m. on the 80-plus degree day, parking right next to the truck where MaoMao was locked up. She heard the puppy’s cries then. When she returned to her car, about 10 minutes later, the Pomeranian’s cries had gotten more desperate. She called animal control.

Meanwhile, Kelli Cathcart had arrived at the store and was also concerned for the animal’s well-being. She went inside Shopko and tried to find the puppy’s owner without success. Several pages on the intercom system inside the store yielded no results.

Cathcart and David stood on the asphalt by the truck waiting for the animal control officer to arrive. Every time the puppy stopped crying the women would get her attention to make sure she was still breathing.

“Oh, thank God,” Cathcart said when Nicole Momtano, an officer from Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Services, arrived and rescued the puppy by prying open the truck cab’s back window.

A short time later, Erickson came out of the store with a young girl in tow. She looked stunned at all the commotion around her truck and put her hand to her heart in an oh-my-God gesture, Momtano said.

Erickson told the officer she’d had the puppy for just a day. Momtano said she asked Erickson if she would have allowed her daughter to be locked up in the truck for an hour with the windows cracked.

The reply: no, that’s illegal. Momtano said she informed Erickson that it was also illegal to leave an animal locked up in a similar situation.

“She just kept saying she didn’t know,” Momtano said, which the officer assumed meant that Erickson was unaware that leaving MaoMao in the truck could hurt her.

Erickson, who couldn’t be reached for comment, got the puppy back after the veterinarian checked her out.