Three dogs were left in a hot SUV and two of them died. Their owner is now behind bars.
Three dogs were left in a hot SUV Tuesday while their owner stayed in an Orlando Quality Inn and Suites, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
Other hotel guests spotted the dogs and flagged down a hotel worker, who called 911.
“We have a car that has dogs on the inside, puppies, and we don’t know where the guests are,” the man told the operator.
When rescuers finally opened the Dodge Durango, a 6-month-old Chihuahua named Minnie was dead inside a carrier and two other puppies were in bad shape, the sheriff’s office said. One of the two, later died.
The temperature in Central Florida was in the 90s Tuesday.
The deputy tracked down the owner, Penelope Stanley, 54, who was inside a room. Stanley, who was visiting from Mississippi, was arrested and charged with animal cruelty.
She told deputies she checked on the dogs at 6:30 a.m. “and they were fine,” the deputy wrote in the report.
The department later said a 3-month-old Shepherd mix named Kiara was “not doing too well” and later said Kiara didn’t make it. A 6-month-old terrier mix named Gruff was expected to be OK.
The sheriff’s office later took to Facebook to send everyone a message: “If you leave pets in a car and they are harmed or die, we will arrest you for felony animal cruelty.”
This story was originally published July 2, 2019 at 6:48 PM.
