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Owner of dog that died in overheated pickup in JP to face charges

Jamaica Plain News reports BPD will charge him with animal cruelty and improper confinement because his dog was found dying in the pickup on Burroughs Street in JP yesterday.

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At the bottom of the link is the statement that if a person sees a dog alone in a car to call 911 and owner can't be found. I was under the impression that if the windows were cracked open a inch or more then it might be okay. Now I understand that under no circumstances is leaving a dog alone okay.

I still seen vehicles in JP on South and Centre with a dog in the car. Chances are the owner stopped to transact business in a nearby store. Problem is figuring out which store. I will favor the dog's comfort and life over finding the owner and will just call 911.

As a species we are lucky that another species has grown to easily bond with us. That is a great privilege. Considering many members of our species demonstrate contempt for the sanctity of all life, we enjoy a miracle by nature to enjoy the love, affection and loyalty of dogs.

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I'm not really a dog guy but don't they have issues with expelling heat, which is why the pant with their mouths open?

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We can deal with heat by perspiration. Not a lot of animals do that as effectively as we do, over as wide a range of temperatures as we can. Being nearly hairless has its advantages. It's believed by some to be one reason we can run a 26 mile marathon, for example.

Whereas we dump heat through water evaporation from our skin, dogs do it with their tongues, mouths, and lungs, hence the panting when they're hot.

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"I was under the impression that if the windows were cracked open a inch or more then it might be okay."
To be honest, I'm shocked at this statement. Really?
Sit in a car with the windows cracked open an inch in a fur coat and report back to us.

It's f'n common sense people!

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This Veterinarian had the windows open 1-2" and it still got horrible in the car.

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Honestly - I occasionally leave my dog in the car for 2 - 3 minutes to run and literally grab something on Centre street. I wouldn't do it on a hot July day, or even a hot hot day period, unless I left the car running with A/C, but I am a little confused by the "YOU MUST NEVER LEAVE YOUR DOG IN A CAR!" mind set. It is as though people can't be trusted to use common sense.

I guess there is the slight risk of some calamity befalling someone on the course of their 5 minute trip, but what it really boils down to is don't be an idiot and leave your dog in the car for an extended period of time on a hot day, particularly in the sun (where the car can heat up rapidly) and particularly without leaving the windows open a significant amount to prevent heat from quickly building.

Be smart, keep your dog's well being in mind, if you're errands are dependent upon leaving them in the car for an extended period of time then you shouldn't be bringing them.

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Or, you know, just walk with or without your dog. People who live in cities but refuse to walk a few blocks to run an errand mystify me. Just move to the suburbs.

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How do you know what consisted of this person's errands? Maybe they were on their way home form their job in the suburbs, picked their dogs up at doggie day care, stopped to grab something because it was on the route to their home in the city?

Damn, you're king of asshole assumptions.

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You are drawing a connection that doesn't exist.

JP is not a sprawling metropolis by any stretch of the imagination but in many cases you can have "business" that is well over a mile away that you don't have the time to just walk to, or, could be coming back from a trip to, oh I don't know, the MSPCA Angell, and have the need / opportunity to run an errand.

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for 2 dogs left with the front windows cracked maybe an inch (the dogs were in the back) in Arlington. No idea how long they'd been there before I got there but I was there at least 15-20 minutes and there was no sign of the owner. The dogs were barking loudly, and there's no way to know if that's cause they're dogs, or cause they're in distress. The police showed up and apparently located the owner later and the dogs were ok. Better safe than sorry.

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Thank you.

What is it with people, even here on UHub that think a window open an inch or two is acceptable?

All I can assume is people who think this aren't that bright.

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they are literally running in the store for a minute.

The car isn't suddenly a sweltering inferno where the dog is fated to die.

I LOVE dogs and would have broken that window for the poor dog on Burroughs street (and probably ran to throw him in Jamaica Pond if he was clearly experiencing extreme heat distress) but there is a huge difference between running into the store / ATM for 3-5 minutes and leaving your dog in a car for an indefinite amount of time.

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Safety is not convenient.

Children should only enter or exit a car on the curbside. Even if you have 2 or 3 carseats. Find a parking lot if you can't handle it.

It is inconvenient to have to take your pet to a safe place before you leave it alone, but that's what you signed up for. This sad incident happened because someone valued their own needs above the needs of their pet. Don't expect strangers on the internet to validate your excuses.

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Ain't so common in some people.

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FYI - it is legal in MA to break into a car that has a trapped dog in it (provided you've called 911 in advance to tell them about the dog and get clearance to break a window)

i really hope the penalties for animal cruelty become harsher. the jackasses who torture these poor animals need all the proverbial books to be thrown at them.

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Ehhh... I can just see this going sideways in this state: "While smashing a window a good samaritan was bitten by a dog and then punched in the face by the car owner. He was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Neither the dog nor the dog's idiot owner were harmed".

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If you're fearful of consequences, don't act to help anything or anyone. That is your privilege.

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for pointing that out about the law protecting citizens from prosecution for breaking a car window to save an animal in distress. I don't think many people are aware of it.
I'd also like to say that I'm glad many businesses have become more tolerant about allowing pets to enter and I wish more would do the same. It's not always safe to leave your dog tied up outside a store and if inside your car is your only other choice, in hot weather, that's an even riskier option.

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I love dogs (hence my username) and obviously I think it's horrifying and cruel to leave them in a car to bake. Everyone should know better. Charges should be pressed if the owner understood what they were doing.

That said, it's odd to see so many on UHub go nuts over this guy but presumably eat any number of meats for lunch. Livestock is treated horribly -- often far worse then even a neglected dog. While a dog is going to suffer for 30 -45 minutes in the car, a cow, pig, chicken, etc will suffer for most of it's life.

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My family always ate what we took and gave the hides to people who used them for crafts.

I eat meat, but the vast majority of the meat that I now eat comes from Walden, a local purveyor that is strictly humane. I could go out and visit the local farms if I wanted to.

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there is definitely a cognitive dissonance when it comes to animals we call pets vs ones we call food... but i think it boils down to the fact that the vast majority of people aren't fully aware of the horrors of the slaughterhouse, and are blissfully ignorant of them.

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But I like my hamburgers. Sorry.

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This has to be one of the most curious posts I have read on UHub in awhile. So I eat meat, from time to time, and because of that I should be cool with a dog suffering for 30-45 minutes in a car, basically being baked to death? Because hypothetically the chicken that I will have for dinner tonight might of suffered most of its life until its head got chopped off?

The two are not mutually exclusive.

BTW: Not all livestock is treated horribly as you imagine. I am sure some may be treated that way but not all.

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It is odd that we don't eat dogs in this country, considering that pigs are far more intelligent and we eat them.

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Adam,
What is the reason they don't name this horrible individual? Is this standard? He was charged and not a juvi, so I wonder if he's connected.

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He will be summonsed into court, which means he hasn't formally been charged yet and police tend not to release people's names until that happens, unless they're conducting an APB search for them, which obviously isn't the case here.

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If you are going to break open a window, use a key or other sharp/pointed object to hit the glass.

The side windows of a car are shatter-resistant. A wide force won't do it. You need to focus the impact on a a single point and then you don't even need to hit it too hard. The rest of the glass is under internal stress and will fall to pebbles as a result.

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Leaving a dog or any other pet in either a hot or a cold car, in either hot or cold weather, is vicious and irresponsible. Anybody who owns any kind of a pet, be it a dog, a cat or a bird, should take responsibility and not leave their pet in the car to overheat, or to get totally chilled from the cold, and possibly dying, as a result. What is wrong with people?

I'm the owner of a pet Congo African Grey Parrot, and I'd never leave her in a hot or cold car! Never, ever, ever!

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