After finding another dog locked inside a parked SUV in Dedham on Wednesday, officials turned to social media to remind people about the dangers of leaving their pets inside their cars.
The dog was found inside a vehicle outside of BJ’s Wholesale Club, and the animal control officer was able to locate its owner inside the store and alert him to what could have been a life-or-death situation. It was the latest in a series of similar incidents that have occurred in other store parking lots in Dedham, including Whole Foods and Costco, officials said.
As of Aug. 15, “we have already written citations for 6 dogs in hot car incidents this month alone,” Dedham Animal Control wrote on Facebook.
The dog that was left in the vehicle outside of BJs was in the back seat, the two front windows were open only about six inches, and the temperature inside the vehicle ranged from 99.6 to as high as 117.6 degrees, officials said.
“How the dog was still conscience and alert is both a blessing and an astonishment,” the Facebook post said. “We are pretty certain that had we not come across this dog when we did, and had BJ’s not been so incredibly responsive with their support and their overhead paging system, this may have ended very tragically.”
This summer, Dedham Animal Control has received more calls about dogs in hot cars than barking dog complaints, the post said.
On Aug. 9, Dedham Animal Control dealt with another dog locked in a vehicle that was parked outside of Costco, and its owner turned out to be a repeat offender.
“We thought the dog looked familiar from a previous ‘in hot car’ incident to which we responded, in the same parking lot,” Dedham Animal Control wrote in the Aug. 9 Facebook post. “We may not be great at remembering (human) faces, but apparently we do very well at remembering dogs! When we returned to our office shortly ago, we checked our records — In August 2022, we cited this dog owner for this very same infraction, after a lengthy discussion about the dangers, which fell on argumentative ears.”
Emily Sweeney can be reached at emily.sweeney@globe.com. Follow her @emilysweeney and on Instagram @emilysweeney22.
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