Author Topic: Animal Cruelty, or Not?  (Read 670 times)

Ben

  • Administrator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 45,737
  • I'm an Extremist!
Animal Cruelty, or Not?
« on: May 28, 2022, 08:21:44 AM »
I was somewhat surprised to read this story. The woman was arrested for animal cruelty. She left her dogs in her car while she ate lunch. Only it wasn't the hot car with the windows up that I would have expected. It was a running car with the windows up and the AC running.

It appears to me that she actually went above and beyond what most people do, which is the windows partially down. It looks like the dogs somehow hit the AC button and turned it off. She had even checked on her dogs in the middle of her lunch. It seems to me that she was responsible and is suffering enough from an accident. If I did the car AC thing for Steve, I could easily see him accidently nosing the AC button to the off position. Slim chance, but it's there. I don't know if it would have made a difference for her to leave her windows an inch or two down as a backup, but she probably thought that would have left the car hotter, even with the AC running.

My own method is that I only take the dog with me when the temps are below 75-80 if I'm going to leave him in the car. I then keep the windows part way down and only do very short errands (5-15min) at the higher temps. Otherwise he stays home.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/missouri-woman-dogs-die-hot-car-owner-animal-cruelty-charges-florida
"I'm a foolish old man that has been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop."

K Frame

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 44,007
  • I Am Inimical
Re: Animal Cruelty, or Not?
« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2022, 08:23:08 AM »
You don't want to know my position on this...

Carbon Monoxide, sucking the life out of idiots, 'tards, and fools since man tamed fire.

MechAg94

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 33,619
Re: Animal Cruelty, or Not?
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2022, 10:28:40 AM »
I don't know how the cruelty law is set up there.  Does intent matter with their law?

She probably could have taken other precautions.  Best decision would be to either take the dogs home.  Seems pretty self centered to eat a sit down meal at a restaurant while your dogs are cooped up in the car. 

I am not sure I would want to leave all those dogs in my vehicle even if they were perfectly safe. 
“It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.”  ― Calvin Coolidge

Ben

  • Administrator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 45,737
  • I'm an Extremist!
Re: Animal Cruelty, or Not?
« Reply #3 on: May 28, 2022, 10:39:34 AM »
I don't know how the cruelty law is set up there.  Does intent matter with their law?

She probably could have taken other precautions.  Best decision would be to either take the dogs home.  Seems pretty self centered to eat a sit down meal at a restaurant while your dogs are cooped up in the car. 

I am not sure I would want to leave all those dogs in my vehicle even if they were perfectly safe.

If I were to fault her generally, vs just for using the AC, it would be that if you have lunch plans, you either leave the dogs at home, or if they are well-behaved, you take them to lunch with you. Though that would be for one or two dogs, versus four.

I like having Steve go places with me, but for some things, or some weather conditions, he's just better off at home.
"I'm a foolish old man that has been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop."

HankB

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 16,564
Re: Animal Cruelty, or Not?
« Reply #4 on: May 28, 2022, 10:39:51 AM »
Wouldn't it have been a pity if this happened?

Trump won in 2016. Democrats haven't been so offended since Republicans came along and freed their slaves.
Sometimes I wonder if the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it. - Mark Twain
Government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance auction in stolen goods. - H.L. Mencken
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. - Mark Twain

ConstitutionCowboy

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 642
  • My Gender and Pronouns are Standard.
Re: Animal Cruelty, or Not?
« Reply #5 on: May 28, 2022, 12:50:57 PM »
Wouldn't it have been a pity if this happened?



Not so much. I'd call it just rewards.

Woody
   "Knowing the past, I'll not surrender any arms and march less prepared into the future."   B.E.Wood

230RN

  • It's like swimming to shore in an ebb tide.
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 18,824
  • Pushing back. Help me out, here...
Re: Animal Cruelty, or Not?
« Reply #6 on: May 28, 2022, 02:28:47 PM »
I suspect she made up the idea that one of them had nosed the AC off, although I can see an active paw (while climbing around) could have done it.  But, no proof, no crime.  The cosmic punishment was adequate.  (I can see the engine overheating and shutting down in a long idle with the A/C on, but this wasn't part of the report.)

We moved out to Colorado with three cats in a Greenbrier van* (no A/C) and were well aware of that problem even though there wasn't that much "publicity" about it back then (early 1960s).  We were real careful about that even though it was late August and we were in Canada.  We'd park in the shade when shopping or a quick meal was involved, with the windows all cracked open.

It seemed like the anxiety about it went from zero to "we'd better check on them" at twenty minutes, half hour. One time we came back to see some people looking in the van at the fuzzies.  They all had tagged harnesses on throughout the trip so we could sort of walk them like dogs.

I feel bad for her and the animals, but holy *expletive deleted*it, yang happens to all of us  and from her statement, she took adequate precautions.  We can each only hope that enough ying happens to balance things out overall.

Terry, 230RN

* Sort of a rich hippie's VW bus.  Ours was all white.

     
« Last Edit: May 28, 2022, 03:07:05 PM by 230RN »

Boomhauer

  • Former Moderator, fired for embezzlement and abuse of power
  • friends
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 14,274
Re: Animal Cruelty, or Not?
« Reply #7 on: May 28, 2022, 02:44:28 PM »
I would never leave my vehicle for more than a few minutes with my dogs even with AC running. They are dumb and can easily do dumb stuff like this.

The puddle under the vehicle is most likely AC condensate drain indicating she did have it on.

I don’t think she intentionally let her dogs die in heat of course.

Sad story.
Quote from: Ben
Holy hell. It's like giving a loaded gun to a chimpanzee...

Quote from: bluestarlizzard
the last thing you need is rabies. You're already angry enough as it is.

OTOH, there wouldn't be a tweeker left in Georgia...

Quote from: Balog
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE! AND THROW SOME STEAK ON THE GRILL!

MechAg94

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 33,619
Re: Animal Cruelty, or Not?
« Reply #8 on: May 28, 2022, 05:20:56 PM »
I would never leave my vehicle for more than a few minutes with my dogs even with AC running. They are dumb and can easily do dumb stuff like this.

The puddle under the vehicle is most likely AC condensate drain indicating she did have it on.

I don’t think she intentionally let her dogs die in heat of course.

Sad story.
I think she made a very foolish decision, but that is the key part when it comes to criminal charges. 
“It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.”  ― Calvin Coolidge

WLJ

  • friends
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 27,837
  • On Patrol In The Epsilon Eridani System
Re: Animal Cruelty, or Not?
« Reply #9 on: May 28, 2022, 05:26:56 PM »
No matter what rules you make, no matter what punishments you deal out, people will be people and will continue to do stupid and foolish things and education only goes so far in preventing them.
This is an example of one.
"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us".
- Calvin and Hobbes

BlueStarLizzard

  • Queen of the Cislords
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 15,039
  • Oh please, nobody died last time...
Re: Animal Cruelty, or Not?
« Reply #10 on: May 31, 2022, 08:02:19 PM »
So, I'm going to be the unpopular one here.

Sometimes leaving the dog at home or taking the dog home is not a option. My dogs have been left in the car for extended periods with a/c on full blast. After Dad died, Larabee went with me everyday because I couldn't leave him home. He was in the car for several doctor visits.

I feel bad for this woman and, yes, she should have left windows open (I leave them open enough that larabee can get his head out)

BUT I won't damn her since I don't know the details.
"Okay, um, I'm lost. Uh, I'm angry, and I'm armed, so if you two have something that you need to work out --" -Malcolm Reynolds

MechAg94

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 33,619
Re: Animal Cruelty, or Not?
« Reply #11 on: May 31, 2022, 11:07:11 PM »
So, I'm going to be the unpopular one here.

Sometimes leaving the dog at home or taking the dog home is not a option. My dogs have been left in the car for extended periods with a/c on full blast. After Dad died, Larabee went with me everyday because I couldn't leave him home. He was in the car for several doctor visits.

I feel bad for this woman and, yes, she should have left windows open (I leave them open enough that larabee can get his head out)

BUT I won't damn her since I don't know the details.
IMO, you are right.  Had she took the precaution of cracking the windows in addition to whatever else she was doing, the dogs may have come through okay.  IMO, foolish mistake, but not criminal.
“It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.”  ― Calvin Coolidge