Immigrant May Face Deportation for Locking Dog in Hot Car
On Sunday, police officers rescued a tiny puppy in Lawrenceville, Georgia, after they found it locked inside a car for about half an hour without air conditioning. The owner of the vehicle, who was found out to be an immigrant, was put behind bars for animal cruelty and is likely to be deported.
The said puppy, which had been identified as a male Havanese, was spotted in the backseat of an SUV, and according to a witness, it was panting and struggling.
"The external temperature outside was about 82 degrees. However when they put a thermometer inside the car, they determined the temperature inside the SUV was 94 to over 100 degrees," said Corporal Michele Pihera in a statement, together with the Gwinnett County Police Department, as reported by WSB-TV.
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The authorities then broke the window open to save the dog and took it to an air-conditioned area before animal control took over. Not long after, the owner, Freddy Dorantes, and his family arrived and saw what happened to their car.
Apparently, they were having dinner at a restaurant in a strip mall along Jimmy Carter Boulevard.
Dorantes, who was taken into police custody, appeared in court on Tuesday this week and was not granted bail because of the hold that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had placed on him.
According to BuzzFeed News, the puppy had recovered on Wednesday. Gwinnett County spokesperson Doug Nurse told the publication that it was already doing "great."
For now, the puppy is not up for adoption. If Dorantes is acquitted, there is a chance that he and his family will get the dog back. However, if he does get deported, and the court terminates the family's ownership of the dog, that is the time it will be available for adoption.
Dogs left inside hot cars for a long period of time can suffer severe heat strokes. The symptoms, according to an International Business Times report, include lethargy, restlessness, lack of coordination, discoloration of the tongue, vomiting, and heave panting, among many others.
Those who will find a dog, or any animal for that matter, trapped inside a car with no sign of its owner around, should alert the authorities right away.
