Is it illegal in Delaware to leave a dog in the car?

Question

I found a little dog locked in a car with 1 window cracked yesterday at the hospital parking lot where I work at. I called the hospitals security and as security arrived so did the owner of the vehicle. Security told me that "there is nothing illegal about leaving the dog in the car". To me, it doesn't have to be illegal, you don't do it. But I would have thought that leaving a dog locked in a car for 2 hours with 1 window cracked would be considered animal cruelty or at least neglect. I've tried searching the Delaware SPCA website but it didn't give me any info on the legalities of it. Does anyone know where I could found out?

Answer 1

The security guards are correct about it not being illegal to leave a dog in a car. There is nowhere in Delaware law that states that specifically.

That being said these are the legal definitions of animal mistreatment, cruelty and neglect in Delaware as written in Chapter 5, Section 1325(a)(4)(5) & (6) of the Delaware Criminal Code:

(4) "Cruel mistreatment" includes any treatment whereby unnecessary or unjustifiable physical pain or suffering is caused or permitted.

(5) "Cruel neglect" includes neglect of an animal, which is under the care and control of the neglector, whereby pain or suffering is caused to the animal or abandonment of any domesticated animal by its owner or custodian. By way of example, cruel neglect shall also include allowing an animal to live in unsanitary conditions, such as keeping an animal where the animal's own excrement is not removed from the animal's living area and/or other living conditions which are injurious to the animal's health.

(6) "Cruelty to animals" includes mistreatment of any animal or neglect of any animal under the care and control of the neglector, whereby unnecessary or unjustifiable physical pain or suffering is caused. By way of example this includes: Unjustifiable beating of an animal; overworking an animal; tormenting an animal; abandonment of an animal; failure to feed properly or give proper shelter or veterinary care to an animal.

If you feel the dog was being neglected or mistreated call your local SPCA. Be sure to provide a description of the dog, the vehicle it is in including the license number, the specific location of the vehicle and articulate why you feel the dog is being mistreated.

It would be my guess that the investigating officer would take into account how long the dog was in the car, the current temperature and whether or not the dog would have had access to water.

Answer 2

I am not sure where exactly you would look for that information.  But I know that people that have done that (especially in really hot weather) have been charged with animal cruelty/neglect.

I remember reading once about a man charged with leaving his dog in a car in 90 degree weather for an hour.  The judge sentenced him to sitting in a car under the same conditions - window just cracked a little, no air on.

That's what should happen when people do that.

Answer 3

live you dog in the car is a grime, Manny dogs die by live them  in the car with out ear condition .very gruel to do this to you animal. perhaps in the very coll weather you may live the dog in the car  lilt time .not Summer time.

Answer 4

It's animal cruelty - leaving them in a hot car. They already have a fur coat on it, so it's about three times as hot as a human would get in the same temperature. The temp rises in the car, of course...especially if it's in the sun. This crazy lady (a customer) at one of my previous jobs left her dog in the car while she went shopping for like 30-45 minutes. The car was in the sun. The dog had a 'cone' over it's head, I guess to prevent it from scratching. It apparently had something wrong with it or just had surgery - and this lady was just whacko. Another customer called the police/animal control and they came out. They didn't do anything to the lady - the lady herself had some serious issues and apparently didn't not have sense enough to have a dog because she didn't know how to care for it.

So...people like that seem to be everywhere. They don't think. The same thing puzzles me even more how people have "forgotten" that their left their BABY or CHILD in their car and they died from the heat.

I would find the number for the SPCA and ask them directly. Websites can't really list all of the questions, but I'm pretty sure this is illegal anyway. The security people at the hospital probably don't know anything other than what they were trained for - which is to walk around and pretty much do nothing unless there is a problem. Even then, they're just trained to take the person down and arrest them. They know nothing about this sort of thing.

Edit: And I agree with catnip above...people like that should have to endure the same thing. However, a human could survive such a thing, of course. Our skin releases sweat, which cools our body some. The dogs can't sweat...they have fur, and pant out of their mouth as a way of sweating. They should make them wear a specially designed coat recreated to simulate that of a dog's fur, while in the car with no air and the window cracked just a little. I guarantee they won't do that again.