Each time I go out of town and leave my dog in the capable hands of friends or a boarding facility, I hope everything goes well, my dog listens, behaves and is generally a good boy. Never do I think, I hope my dog gets fed, I hope he is not locked in a car or dies! Nor could I imagine leaving my dog in the hands of a person that has that little of knowledge about how to care for a dog. All the more reason the story below is simply shocking. For anyone this day in age to think it is okay to leave a dog in a hot car for any length of time is hard to believe. But it is truly mind blowing to think that someone left a dog locked in a car for 6 days! Dogster brings us the full story below.
We don't know this bonehead's name yet, because he hasn't
been charged with a crime. Police would like to charge him, though. They
just need some evidence that the dog the bonehead locked in a car for
six days had actually been locked in a car for six days -- or five days,
four days, or even three days. When it comes to dog health, any days are too many to be locked in a car.
What they have now, however, is just testimony from a
security guard, who said that the car had remained in the same spot in a
parking lot for six days. Security guards don't know whether the dog
was in there the whole time, but they believe the worst. When the guards
finally noticed the dog, they noticed his ribs. He was a dog in peril,
shaking and scared, huddled in the car, with no food or water.
"The dog appeared frightened and was shaken and appeared to be in distress," Seattle police spokeswoman Renee Witt told KOMONews.com.
Authorities got Zipper out and fed him, then they called Seattle Animal Shelter, who picked up Zipper and cared for him.
Don Baxter, manager of the shelter's animal care and volunteer programs, said Zipper could have died of heatstroke.
"Even on a relatively cool day it can get deadly in there for them," he said.
Right now, police are trying to figure out how long exactly the dog was in the car.
"That's a big concern for us," said Witt. "That would actually be animal neglect."
Without that charge, Zipper is scheduled to released back to his caretaker -- the very man who left him in a car for six days.
Baxter isn't happy about it, but there's little he can do.
"We're going to have a conversation with this individual,"
he said, "try to educate them about the proper care for the dog and let
them know that it's not acceptable to leave a dog inside a car on a
warm day like today."
So, what's this guy doing owning a dog? He doesn't,
really. He's just the boyfriend of the person who really owns Zipper,
and he's dog-sitting while the owner is on vacation.
Who knows? Maybe he really doesn't know a single thing about caring for dogs. We already know he's an idiot.
