By Pat Culverhouse
Leaving a pet locked inside a vehicle without proper ventilation during extremely hot weather has put a Bossier City woman in hot water with the law.
Chief of Police Jared McIver said Shardenai Jozette Shaw, 28, a resident of the 1600 block Anita St. in Bossier City is facing a charge of cruelty to animals after officers found her pet dog inside a vehicle at the Minden Recreation Center.
She was booked Thursday, July 31, and is looking at a $750 bond.
Officers responding to an animal welfare concern call reportedly found a poodle inside a vehicle in the recreational center’s parking lot with the windows only slightly cracked. Officers said the animal was barking and panting heavily due to the extreme heat inside the vehicle.
Temperature at the time reportedly was 95 degrees and the Minden area was under a heat advisory.
Shaw was found “working out” inside the recreation center. She reportedly told officers she had been inside only a short time before they arrived.
McIver said individuals should be more informed of the dangers pets and young children face if they’re left inside a vehicle, even for a short period of time.
“Statistics show it doesn’t take but a few minutes for the temperatures inside a vehicle to reach extremely dangerous levels, even if the windows are slightly cracked,” he said.
Nationally, hundreds of reports are filed about animals dying of heatstroke after being left in hot cars. And, reports say, not all cases of animal deaths are reported to authorities.
Authorities said dogs can be especially vulnerable to heatstroke with studies showing a dog can die from heatstroke in as little as 15 minutes.
Some 32 states have laws on the books that either prohibit leaving an animal in a confined vehicle under dangerous conditions or provide civil immunity for a person who rescues a distressed animal from a vehicle.
Most laws provide that the animal must be confined or unattended in a vehicle that is parked or stationary. To be in violation of the law, conditions inside the vehicle must be such that the animal’s life is endangered.
In Louisiana, RS 37:1738.1 grants immunity from liability (protection from lawsuit) to persons for property damage or trespass to a motor vehicle if damage was caused while the person was rescuing an animal in distress.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.