As heat indices again soar into the triple digits, two dogs in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area have died from alleged owner neglect in the extreme heat. Mark Langan, spokesman for the Humane Society, says he’s disgusted by how the animals were treated and how they ultimately died.
“The dogs were left outside all day without sufficient shade, without water,” Langan says. “That’s just a recipe for disaster leaving your dogs out in weather like this.” He says one dog was found dead in Omaha and the other was in Carter Lake, Iowa.
“The first case involves an American Bulldog in southwest Omaha. The second was an Alaskan malamute in Carter Lake,” Langan says. “The dogs were left out in the back yard all day long, no access to water, no access to shade.” Langan says the bulldog was left outside for eight hours and had a body temperature of 100-degrees. The owner of the malamute brought the dog to the Humane Society shelter.
Langan says responsible dog owners know better. “They might leave their dog out in the fall and the spring and that is fine but you can’t leave your dogs out all day long when the heat indexes are 110, 115 degrees,” he says. “Dogs just can’t survive in weather like that.” Langan says most dog owners are being very responsible and respectful.
“We’re not getting a whole lot of calls in regards to dogs in distress or dogs dying but these two are certainly an exception,” he says. “We hope we don’t have anymore.” Both of the dogs’ owners could face criminal charges.