A pet owner has been jailed after police in Clearwater, Florida, rescued a French bulldog from a sweltering car at Sand Key Park on Sunday.
The dog was left inside with the windows cracked only two inches. The temperature outside was 89 degrees with a heat index of 96. Inside the vehicle, conditions quickly became life-threatening.
Officers responding to the scene found the dog panting heavily, with excessive drool coating the back seat.
The animal was rushed to a local veterinarian for evaluation, while the owner was arrested.
Rob Shaw from the Clearwater Police Department told Newsweek: "The owner was charged with animal cruelty and booked in to the Pinellas County Jail.
"The dog was given to the husband of the woman charged. He was not at the scene and came to pick up the dog after it was checked out at a local vet's office."
The incident is part of a troubling pattern. Just days earlier, another case involved a cat left locked in a vehicle while its owner went to the beach.
"Under no circumstances should you ever leave a pet inside a car during these hot summer days. The results can be deadly," Clearwater Police Department said on Facebook.
A Growing Problem Nationwide
According to PETA, 371 pets died in cars between 2023-2025, while 1,587 were rescued from cars in the U.S.
Total Vet reports that the most common states where these rescues occur include Florida, Ohio, California, Nevada, and New York.
The peak danger months are June and July, when rising temperatures and holiday activities often coincide with higher rates of pet abandonment in vehicles.
"We published this to bring awareness to the issue of leaving pets in hot cars," Shaw said. We have had two incidents recently where this occurred when people went to the beach. Leaving an animal inside a hot car in the middle of summer can be deadly. We're trying to educate people to not make those mistakes."
Cars Heat Up Fast
Research has long shown how dangerous parked cars can be for pets. Animals left in hot cars can die in as little as twenty minutes, even with a window cracked open.
A 2005 study from the Stanford University School of Medicine found that on a sunny day, the interior of a parked car can heat up by an average of 40 degrees Fahrenheit within an hour, regardless of the outside temperature.
Eighty percent of that increase occurs within the first 30 minutes. The study also revealed that common precautions—such as cracking a window or briefly running the air conditioner before parking—have little to no effect on the rate of heating.
Dr. Catherine McLaren, lead author of the study, emphasized that tragedies can happen even on mild days: "There are cases of children dying on days as cool as 70 degrees Fahrenheit," she said.
Earlier this month millions of people were issued warnings across the U.S. by the National Weather Service (NWS) in relation to "heat related illnesses that increase significantly during extreme heat."
These include prolonged exposure to heat, including being in hot vehicles, with particular concerns for vulnerable groups like children, pets and the elderly.
