On the third day of triple digit temps, deputies have responded to reports each of those days for dogs left inside locked cars.
Shortly after noon Thursday, deputies with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station were dispatched to a parking lot in Valencia, on Copper Hill Drive near Avenida Rancho Tesoro for reports of a dog found inside a locked car.
“This was a call on the 23000 block of Copper Hill, near Sam’s Flaming Grill, for a dog in a vehicle with the windows up,” Lt. Doug Mohrhoff told The Signal Thursday.
“When deputies rolled up they found that the car owner had left the car running with the air conditioning on,” he said. “There was no evidence of animal abuse and the animal was not in distress.”
“Deputies advised the owner to leave the dog at home,” he said, as opposed to leaving the dog in an air conditioned car.
The incident marked the third report of a dog left in a locked car with the windows up in the last three days as temperatures rose about 100F each day.
“We’ve actually had several reports of dogs left in vehicles,” Mohrhoff said.
On Wednesday, as temperatures climbed to 104F, deputies responded to reports of a dog found in a car in the parking lot of Costco on Via Princessa .
The dog was placed in the care of dispatchers at the sheriff’s station, sheriff spokesman Deputy Chris Craft said.
On Tuesday, a local sheriff’s deputy rescued a dog found “heavily panting” inside a locked car outside the movie theaters in Valencia Tuesday as temperatures climbed to a forecast high of 103F.
Shortly after 11:15 a.m., a woman returning to her car parked on the ground floor of the parking garage near the Edwards Valencia Stadium 12 movie theaters discovered a fluffy white dog left inside a wine-colored Ford Flex SUV parked inside a space designated as “90 minute parking only.”
When responding Deputy Ana Rubalcava found the dog “heavily panting” inside the SUV, she broke the rear passenger window to free the animal.
Deputies have shattered the windows of at least two SCV vehicles in the last couple of days in efforts to rescue the animals, Mohrhoff said.
“Leave your dog at home,” Mohrhoff told The Signal.
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