After Multiple Children and Animals Die, PETA Asks Mayor to Pass Unique ‘Hot Car’ Law

Extra-Strength City Legislation Could Save Many Vulnerable Lives

For Immediate Release:
August 18, 2016

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

On the heels of a recent incident in Austin in which five kittens and a dog died after being left in a hot car, PETA rushed a letter to Mayor Steve Adler this morning asking him to enact legislation that prohibits leaving animals, children, and anyone else who is vulnerable unattended in vehicles.

Just this summer, at least 27 children—six of them in Texas—and 41 dogs have died after being left in hot cars. On a 78-degree day, the temperature inside a parked car can soar to well over 100 degrees in minutes—and leaving the windows slightly open and parking in the shade do not keep vehicles cool enough to be safe.

“No living being who cannot escape unaided in the event of an emergency should ever be left in a hot car for any amount of time because heatstroke can cause organ and brain damage or even death in mere minutes,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “With dozens of children’s and dogs’ lives already lost this summer, PETA is urging Mayor Adler to enact legislation that will prevent future tragedies.”

Since 1998, there have been nearly 700 documented cases in which children died in hot cars, and PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—receives numerous reports each year about panicked animals who have suffered and died in agony inside vehicles during warm weather.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.