Evansville police say heat likely killed
three dogs Wednesday

August 5, 2010, Evansville, Indiana —Evansville Police Department officers said they found dead dogs at three residences Wednesday. All of the dogs were outside, and the officers' reports suggest that Wednesday's record high temperature was a factor in their deaths. A record temperature of 102 degrees was recorded around 2:50 p.m. Wednesday, according the National Weather Service, and heat indexes exceeded 110 degrees at several points throughout the day.

"People just don't realize how much the heat affects animals," said Miranda Knight, a spokeswoman for the Vanderburgh Humane Society, noting that a dog's fur coats exacerbates heat danger.

The first dog was found at 725 E. Columbia St. According to the report, an unidentified female resident left for work at 6:30 a.m. and left her 13-year-old son responsible for giving it water.

When the woman returned at 5:30 p.m., she found the dog dead with no water in its bowl.

Police arrived and found that the black dog was tethered to a small dog house. The dog house was its only source of shade.

Officers said it appeared that the dog tried to bury itself in an effort to cool off. The woman was cited for neglect of an animal, a misdemeanor.

The second deceased dog was found at 2404 Lodge Ave. around 11:15 a.m. A mail carrier reported seeing the dog in distress and gave it water and then contacted Evansville-Vanderburgh Animal Care and Control. An officer from that agency arrived and find no water in either of its bowls.

Children at the residence said their mother had tied the dog up before going to work at 6 a.m.

The final dog, found at 1501 Henning Ave., seemed to have been deceased for quite some time, according to police.

When officers arrived around 5:15 p.m., an animal control officer at the scene stated that there was a complaint that three dogs were not being properly taken care of and that one dog had died.

Two 20- to 30-pound dogs were in wire cages, each about four square feet in size, with some kind of pad on the top that didn't cover the entire cage, reports said. Food was scattered on the bottom, but there were bowls with water in the cages.

A third dog, tethered with a rope, was found near a hole dug under a parked Ford Explorer.

A deceased animal, believed to be the fourth dog, was found next to a tethering rod with maggots and flies on it, police said.

Knight offered tips for preventing incidents like these. She said that if people can bring animals inside, they should.

"If they have to be outside, make sure they have access to plenty of clean, fresh, cool drinking water, and they need to check that a number of times a day," Knight said.

She said pet owners should also make sure animals should have access to plenty of shade, noting again that check-ups are important as the animal's chain may get tangled.

Knight said that incidents like this also happen in cars. She recommended that people should forgo taking their pets with them when it's hot.

"In heat like this, that car is an oven in no time," Knight said. "Don't risk it."