Citations Now Possible In Rhinelander For Leaving Pets In Hot Cars

If you leave a pet in your car in Rhinelander during a warm summer day, you could be cited by city police under a new ordinance. Rhinelander Police recently cited one person who left their dog inside a locked car with little ventilation for more than 40 minutes. Sergeant Kurt Helke says each summer they frequently get calls about pets locked in vehicles. He says in the past he's taken pets from cars to the animal shelter. Helke checked to see what other communities do concerning pets in vehicles, and a proposal he promoted passed the city council last month... "We have a measuring stick to be able to take action on this. Then we would have the discretion to issue a municipal citation for somebody if we deemed fit. It would give us another tool in our toolbox to help enforce this and help deter it from happening and to hold accountable people who are careless enough to leave dogs in cars...." Helke cited one dog owner after they had complaints that a puppy was in a hot car for more than 40 minutes. A fine totaling more than $300 is likely... "It's kind of a common sense thing that you should not leave children or pets in that car because of all the (information) that has been out there about how hot it gets in a car on a hot day. It's unreasonable to leave a living creature in those conditions for any amount of time..." Helke hopes the public takes note and they leave pets or kids at home or make other arrangements. If the outside temperature is 80 degrees, a car will heat up to 118 degrees within 40 minutes. On average, 38 children and hundreds of pets die each year from being left in hot cars.