Let’s keep the fun in summer!

A few weeks ago, I had to take my son Samuel to swim team practice. So I packed the cats along, as I planned to use the hour he was at the pool to take them to the vet. It felt nippy out, not particularly hot. I loaded all parties in the car and set off for the pool. I dropped Samuel off and headed off to the vet.  The cats got their shots and we zoomed back to the pool. On the way home, Samuel was famished, so we stopped at a diner for a quick piece of toast. It was probably 70 degrees and raining intermittently. We weren’t in the diner for long, maybe 20 minutes, so boy was I surprised when we got back in the car and discovered how warm it was inside. Poor Climber and Pica, they were panting!
Many people - ahem, yours truly included - have left a child or a pet in the car when running a quick errand. It seems like it would be all right, especially if one leaves all of the windows open a crack. And, summer really hasn’t yet heated up to every day HOT. But here are three things I’ve discovered that I'd like to share with you:

·         it doesn’t take outside temperatures above 90 to really harm or even kill a person or an animal.

·         cracking all the windows even an inch or two doesn’t really work to bring down the temperature in the vehicle. FYI, the interior temperature of a car can reach at least 114 degrees even with four windows cracked on a 101 degree day.

·         it is a crime!

To quote Canyon County’s own Coroner Vickie DeGeus-Morris, leaving a child or pet in a hot, parked car “...is the equivalent of putting them in an oven, with the body temperature rising as high as 160 degrees in a short amount of time... They’re basically going to cook to death."  What amount of time is safe under those conditions? Officials say that  no amount of time is safe.  I didn’t know it, but leaving a child unattended in a hot car is a felony, depending on the severity of the case. Leaving an animal in a hot car becomes a case of animal cruelty and could elicit a misdemeanor charge.  As tempting as it is to run into the cleaners for a quick second with little Johnny or Fido in the car, don’t let yourself do it. And if you see that someone else has, the right thing to do is to call 911.

It's so easy to get distracted when doing an errand. And the clock is ticking, the heat is rising and you could be endangering the person or pet you love the most. Summer is a time of fun in the sun but it can also be dangerous. So let’s take the extra time it takes to get everyone out of the car and let's keep the fun coming!