Soon, Brattleboro will be joining Toronto, Canada, Clearwater, FL, and San Diego, CA as well as many other towns, by posting signs in public parking lots that remind the public of the dangers of how hot a car can quickly get, even on a mild day. In Brattleboro, they will be smaller stickers, strategically positioned near the coin slots on the town parking kiosks in all parking lots and garages. This effort can save lives and reduce the possibility of tragic animal suffering.
I was recently sent this link, by Mrs. Paola Potts in Southern California, who I worked with in designing these bumper stickers for SDAA. I am happy to provide anyone in Brattleboro with in a free bumper sticker, as you see them here. I am also offering a variety of printed color signs (your choice, but not the one displayed by SDAA, sorry) to local businesses, along with a frame, or laminated, also for free. If interested, please let me know.
Thanks,
Barry Adams (bakmboston@aol.com)
Note: please indicate your interest in the “Subject” window of the e-mail (e.g., bumper sticker or sign request).
A much needed program
I am so pleased to see this program going into effect in Brattleboro. In the 5 years I’ve lived in Brattleboro I have seen at least a dozen dogs locked in sweltering cars along with one car parked on Main Street with 2 ferrets locked in-no windows open -on a 90 degree August day.
Will the stickers also go on parking meters on the streets or just in the parking lot? Thanks for all your work on getting this going.
Thanks, KAlden!
I am not sure about parking meters. They have been mentioned and I think the sticker vs. sign plan is more conducive to doing that. I think the bumber stickers are also a good way to possibly raise some awareness in large big box store parking lots and strip malls. The independent businesses on Main Street in town have been very responsive (See:
http://www.facebook.com/RedRover.org/photos_stream#!/media/set/?set=a.205897859468301.52478.161848213873266&type=3)
but the large big box stores and those in strip malls are a real challenge, including due to the fact that they often rent the space and the parking lots are owned by investment firms, etc. Hard to penetrate that. And they’re the most common circumstance of this problem because of their size and that dogs in trouble are less likely to be noticed.
Yes, I can see where the
Yes, I can see where the larger parking lots at strip malls would be tough. I wonder if the individual stores would allow signs or a few stickers to be strategically placed on their entrance doors? Most of the dogs I saw in stifling cars were, in fact, in the parking lots of our two grocery stores and at Royal Plaza.I waited at a couple of the cars and had a “conversation” with the dog owners when they returned and also left notes on the windshields of some of the others -hopefully they paid attention. But, every animal saved is an animal saved and that’s nothing but good news! Thanks again to you and everyone who worked on this initiative.
Long term effort pays off
It is a good program, and has taken a lot of volunteer work by zippy and others to raise the issue, build awareness, and then come up with a range of solutions. A good example of slow and steady progress toward a goal paying off.
Of course, we may need a new ferret protection education program to go along with it… : )
I was thinking about
I was thinking about questioning the need for such an ongoing campaign (yet, the reports keep growing in number every year) and my own pause sometimes thinking a “preachy” message about shifting our awareness can get exhausting to hear. Then I started thinking of how effective the “Spay and Neuter” movement has been and how often we hear that message, year after year. I think we have to start thinking about this problem in the same way. We actually need more messages about animal cruelty, neglect, and welfare, as cruelty and neglect take so many forms (unintentionally not providing access to food and water, teathering, inadequate medical attention, etc. It’s nice to see the progress on this.
I also want to share this info, as it is a program that has only been around since February and has already helped so many people and animals! Check it out, share the info, and support them if you can:
https://petfoodstamps.org/
Thanks!
please help
Brattleboro’s municipal parking lots will have warning signs on the Park and Pay kiosks in all municipal lots soon. However, this leaves private lots (Hannaford, Wal-Mart, PETCO, Target, etc.) still dangerous places for dogs left in cars.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/apr/11/tp-safety-campaign-warms-up/?page=1#article-copy
You can help by telling these big box stores that you are concerned for dog safety and ask them to be responsible. Dogs suffer and die while people shop I have found dogs in private big box stores countless times and have requested that they act. We need more voices.
As you see, it’s only April and we’re seeing this already http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/04/barnstable_police_find_dog_marijuana_in_hot_car?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bostonherald%2Fnews%2Fregional+%28Local+%2F+Regional+-+News+%26+Opinion+-+BostonHerald.com%29
Update on Brattleboro and Dogs
You can read RedRover’s press release here: http://www.redrover.org/press-release/brattleboro-becomes-leader-preventing-dog-deaths-hot-cars
and about the very essence of the problem here: http://wtvr.com/2013/04/11/dead-dogs-animal-cruelty/
one more thing (er, two)...
The dogs in the newscast above both died.
Last sunny, hot Saturday, I found two Chihuhuas locked in a very hot car in a very big grocery store parking lot in Greenfield, MA. They made an announcement and the owner left the store and the parking lot immediately. It just does not end.
But we are on the move.