GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – The Green Bay Police Department is encouraging citizens to take action this summer if they see a pet in distress.
The message comes after a golden retriever died while being locked inside a vehicle outside of Lambeau Field on Thursday for over 3 hours.
Green Bay Police Chief Andrew Smith says you don’t need to be a dog lover to understand the severity of the issue.
“Imagine the suffering that a dog or animal goes through as it slowly has its body temperature raised to a point of death,” says Smith. “Just terrible.”
In the recent case of the golden retriever, the dog was taken to an animal hospital and doctors attempted to take its core temperature, but it was too high to even register on a thermometer.
In that case, the dog was left inside a vehicle for over three hours.
Officers say it won’t take even nearly that long for most cases to turn deadly.
“If it’s summer, a dog in a car will be dead in minutes,” explains Smith.
Green Bay PD says that they get calls all the time during the summer regarding pets locked inside hot vehicles.
The department is hoping that a case like Thursday will never happen again.
“I would rescue that animal,” he says. “I think the life of an animal is more important, to me, than someone’s car window.”
In fact, police say that drastic action is warranted in some circumstances.
According to Green Bay PD, if you notice an animal locked inside a hot vehicle the first step should be to notify police.
But, if the situation seems dire and you don’t think the police will arrive in time, then you are legally capable of taking the matter into your own hands.
“If you’re a citizen and you come across a dog that appears to be in distress, the state of Wisconsin will allow you to break the window of that vehicle to rescue that dog and save its life,” says Smith.
