Standing in front of a smashed car window with a crow bar in one hand and a rescued dog in the other, Orange Is the New Black actor Kimiko Glenn appears in a lifesaving new campaign for PETA proclaiming, “The Car Is Insured, but the Dog’s Life Is Irreplaceable. Do Whatever It Takes—Don’t Leave Dogs to Die in Hot Cars.”
In an accompanying video spot, she reminds people that temperatures can soar in parked cars, killing children and animals in mere minutes.
“I’m from Arizona, and I know it turns into an oven in that car. Whether the windows are cracked or not, dogs can die within 10 to 15 minutes,” Glenn says. “Please, never leave your dog or child in a hot car. It’s completely dangerous, and the consequences can be fatal.”
PETA — whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” — notes that on a 78-degree day, the temperature inside a parked car can soar to up to 100 degrees in minutes and that on a 90-degree day, interior temperatures can reach as high as 109 degrees in less than 10 minutes. When a child is left in a hot vehicle, his or her body temperature can increase three to five times faster than an adult’s, and because dogs cool themselves only by panting, they can succumb to heatstroke in just 15 minutes and sustain brain damage or die as a result.
If you see a child or dog in danger, take down a description of the vehicle and ask the manager in the nearest building to page the owner of the car. If the owner can’t be located, call the police and wait by the car until help arrives. Never leave the scene until the situation has been resolved.
