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Dogs Die In Hot Cars
Every year, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals receives calls about dogs being left in vehicles, out in the sun. On a hot summer’s day, a dog inside a closed car can be dead in just 6 minutes. It’s that simple. A closed vehicle left in an unshaded area in summer can heat up to nearly double the outside temperature within 20 minutes. This means that leaving your dog in a car under these conditions could subject the animal to temperatures of up to 73C. After 6 minutes, your dog could be sitting in temperatures up to 55C. At this temperature, the dog would not survive and would die from heat stress.
This table shows the maximum temperatures reached in popular cars on a summer and winter day. The hottest temperature reading during the summer was 73C, nearly double the outside temperature.
Heat kills, and all it takes is 6 minutes for the inside of your car to heat up to temperatures that are fatal. It does not matter how big your car is. The inside temperatures are determined by the colour of your car and the glass surface area of your car. Generally speaking, vehicles with larger glass surface areas, such as hatch-backs, heat up faster and higher than other similar sized sedans. The table opposite reinforces the dangers of leaving animals, and children, in parked vehicles even if it is for a short period of time.
| Maximum Temperature in Vehicles (Outside air temperature in brackets) |
|
VEHICLE TYPE |
WINTER C |
SUMMER C |
|
Large Sedan (White) |
43.4 (19.3) |
63.6 (33.7) |
|
Large Sedan (Dark green) |
47.9 (19.3) |
71.2 (37.2) |
|
Large Wagon (White) |
39.1 (21.5) |
56.6 (37.2) |
|
Medium Sedan (Off white) |
43.7 (21.3) |
66.6 (33.7) |
|
Medium Sedan (Dark green) |
47.6 (19.3) |
73 (37.2) |
|
Small Sedan (White) |
41.3 (21.4) |
63 (37.2) |
|
Small Sedan (Blue) |
48.1 (21.4) |
N.A |
|
Small hatch (White) |
N.A |
64 (37.2) |
|
Small Hatch (Dark) |
N.A |
70.5 (37.2) |
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