1 dog saved, others checked on
Deputies rescue animal from hot car; Man cited for selling puppies
As temperatures hovered in the low 90s Saturday, Santa Clarita Valley sheriff’s deputies rescued dogs from vehicles in at least two separate incidents.
About 12:30 p.m., when temperatures climbed to the day’s high of 91 degrees, deputies with the SCV Sheriff’s Station were dispatched to the Westfield Valencia Town Center mall for reports of a dog left in a hot car.
“When the deputy arrived, he observed the windows of (the) vehicle were all rolled up, no air conditioning, an empty water dish and the dog was panting heavily,” said Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the SCV Sheriff’s Station, wrote in a post the station’s Facebook page.
“The deputy smashed the window to extricate the dog,” she wrote. “The dog is reported to be okay.”
In a second unrelated incident also involving dogs in a car, deputies responded to concerns voiced by one SCV resident over puppies sold from the trunk of a car.
Miller wrote in a Facebook post, thanking the citizen “who called and reported that someone was selling puppies out of their trunk in a Stevenson Ranch parking lot.
Although heat may not been the concern, it is illegal, Miller pointed out, to sell puppies like that, adding: “not to mention the fact that it’s extremely hot outside.”
“Deputies checked the welfare of the four pups to make sure they were OK, and said that the pups appeared to be in good health, and had food and water,” she said.
The man, who was from out-of-town, was issued a citation for illegally selling the pups in public.
Deputies called officials with the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control but, department spokeswoman Don Belton said Monday: “Our officers responded but car was gone upon arrival.”