Vestar Nabs PETA Award for Hot Car Warning Signs

Shopping Centers Will Help Keep Dogs and Kids From Dying of Heatstroke in Parked Cars

For Immediate Release:
September 9, 2020

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

A Compassionate Business Award is on its way from PETA to locally based property management company Vestar for its signs warning shoppers about the dangers of leaving dogs and children in parked cars.

Just days after PETA shared with the company that temperatures can quickly soar in parked cars, causing dogs and children trapped inside to die from heatstroke within minutes, Vestar agreed that this is an “important danger to identify” and will post signs at its properties.

“Every year, PETA receives reports of dozens of dogs and other animals who have baked to death after being left in a parked car,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “Vestar could save countless lives by reminding shoppers never to leave a vulnerable family member in the car.”

Twenty-seven animals have died this year from heat-related causes. PETA offers an emergency window-breaking hammer for intervening in such life-or-death situations.

Dogs showing any symptoms of heatstroke—including restlessness, heavy panting, vomiting, or loss of coordination—should be taken into the shade, given water to drink, and cooled off with a cold towel placed on their heads and chests. A veterinarian should be called immediately.

Vestar will receive an award letter, a framed certificate, and a box of delicious vegan chocolates.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.