A K9 officer has passed away from heat-related causes after being left alone in a patrol vehicle on a hot summer day.
The incident occurred in California where an officer and his police dog Ozzy were going around while off-duty.
As the unnamed officer reported, he left the dog alone in the car because the police car they used contained a heat-controlling system that should alert him if the vehicle overheated.
Nevertheless, the system appeared to have malfunctioned and the officer returned to his vehicle only to find out that his 6-year-old dog has died.
“A veterinarian examination of Ozzy and the preliminary results determined the cause of death to be heat-related,” public information officer Arantxa Chavarria said.
“Our K9 vehicles are outfitted with fail-safe equipment that is meant to generate an alert. At this time, we believe this alert may not have been working.”
As the Long Beach spokesperson added, the heat-regulating system was supposed to alert the officer when the vehicle started overheating.
However, she refused to respond to inquiries whether it is okay to leave K9 dogs in police vehicles alone despite having the system in place.
6-year-old Ozzy had been doing his job for over five years before feeling victim to the summer heat.
“We ask that you respect the handler and his family. Our department is mourning Ozzy’s loss as we would with any of our employees,” Chavarria added.
“Our K9s are an indispensable part of our department, and we will continue to view them as partners.”
While certain safety systems can help ensure that vehicles with pets inside don’t overheat, the Humane Society suggests that locking pets in cars and leaving them alone is never safe.
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