While 16 other U.S. states have laws prohibiting unattended animals in automobiles, Tennessee is the first state to pass a new law which legally enables Good Samaritans to break into cars to rescue the unattended animal,
The Daily Mail reports.
The new law, which went into effect July 1, is an extension to the Good Samaritan Law, which legally allows people to break into cars to save unattended children without being sued, The Daily Mail notes.
"It's good for folks to know that they have this ability to take action should a possible tragic event happen," said State Rep. David Hawk, the sponsor of House Bill 537,
according to Knoxblogs.com.
Although some pet owners believe cracking a window is enough to keep their pet cool, the
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals notes that a car can overheat in less than 30 minutes causing serious health risks and even death to an animal.
"It takes only minutes for a pet to face death," said Chloe Waterman, ASPCA's senior manager of state legislative strategy,
according to The Huffington Post. "On a 78-degree day, the temperature inside a parked car can reach 160 degrees, even with the windows cracked."
The new Tennessee law came to fruition after Hawk heard of a dog dying in between a citizen calling for help and police arriving on the scene, The Daily Mail noted.
Nashville Fire Department Chief of Staff Mike Franklin told WKRN, a local ABC affiliate, there are specific steps that need to be followed in order for a break in to be considered legal.
"If you act reasonably, as any reasonable person would respond, you will not be at fault to save a life [and/or] animals," Franklin said.
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