I just watched the daily news briefing at S-R.com, and when a news hole was mentioned, someone said they could run the “hot dogs” story, which obviously referred to dogs in cars and don't leave your dog in a hot car (or, hey, I know, don't leave your kid in a hot car either, or your cat. Maybe a lizard. That might be okay. Something cold blooded might be okay... or something already dead... but not a living, breathing, warm-blooded mammal, okay?)... and the general response was “I don't think it's hot enough yet.”
There was a little bit of discussion about it, but then the consensus was that this was the right decision. Wait until it's warmer.
What do we base this decision on? We base it on assumptions. Bad ones. We base it on assumptions that we know exactly how hot it is before an animal is in danger. Which means we don't know a damn thing about how hot it needs to be, and we could fix that with a little research, but we won't do that because... well, I don't know exactly why, and I'm not going to assume I do. Here are a few of the facts:
The weather forecast (available on the Spokesman-Review website, of course) is for highs today is for a high of 73°F. By the end of the week, the forecast is for a high of 81°F.
Rather than reinvent the wheel, I'll quote the Humane Society of the United States:
A recent study by the Stanford University School of Medicine showed that temperatures inside cars can rise dramatically even on mild days. With outside temperatures as low as 72 degrees, researchers found that a car's interior temperature can heat up by an average of 40 degrees within an hour, with 80% of that increase in the first 30 minutes. A cracked window provides little relief from this oven effect. The Stanford researchers found that a cracked window had an insignificant effect on both the rate of heating and the final temperature after an hour.
Apparently it isn't important to prepare the public, to inform them of the dangers ahead of time. We'd rather wait until it's really hot, until a few dogs have died or suffered heat stroke.
Okay. I said I'm annoyed. But I'm not annoyed. I'm angry. Not necessarily on behalf of the dogs, but because the Spokesman-Review makes far too many assumptions. I think it was Steve Smith who said, “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.” Unfortunately, there are way too many journalists and editors there who seem to not follow this policy.
Never mind. Watch the feel-good slide show and you won't have to think about it anymore. (No slam intended on the slide-show... it's actually very nicely done and worth watching... I just wonder if maybe it wouldn't be worth doing a video presentation of how long it takes for a car to heat up to dangerous levels as well, because clearly the consensus is that it takes too long to worry about it right now... and this is an error that could cost your pet their life.)
Listening to “I Love You 'Cause I Have To” by Dogs Die In Hot Cars from the album Please Describe Yourself on
feed
