Lang
8/31/19
Leaving a puppy in a hot car has led to charges against an Iowa City woman.
Iowa City Police were called to Southeast Junior High on Bradford Drive just before 2:15pm on August 22nd for a report of a dog left in a minivan for over an hour. The dog was reportedly panting and in distress.
An arriving animal control officer was able to unlock the car and found a puppy trying to hide from the heat under one of the seats. The high temperature that day was 81 degrees.
The puppy’s owner, 39-year-old Cristina Reynoso Ayala of the Forest View manufactured housing community on Laura Drive, said the puppy was an eight-week-old chihuahua mix and still needed special puppy formula. She also said she’d been checking on the puppy more than once each hour.
The puppy was rushed to a veterinarian, and its health status is unknown. Reynoso Ayala is charged with Animal Neglect, a simple misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of 30 days in jail.