Do you know what you’d do if you ever saw a dog trapped in a hot car? Do you, really? We would all like to say that we’d do whatever it took to free a dog in danger, but when the time comes do we really have the courage to do it, or do we just walk away, hoping the next person to come along is bolder?
Confused.com, a car-buying website, recently held a sneaky-but-smart social experiment in the U.K. They placed a (fake) dog alone in a locked car during the hottest part of the year, played the sound of a dog whining and barking, and watched to see what would happen. The outcome was frightening. Had the situation not been faked, it would have been another sad news headline.
In four days, of the hundreds of people who walked past and witnessed the dog in distress, only four people attempted to help. Two people immediately got on their phones to call the RSPCA and had to be stopped by someone conducting the experiment – way to go, guys!
What does this mean? It means don’t wait for someone braver to come along. Not when a life depends on it. So many dogs die horrible deaths in hot cars because of careless or cruel owners and indifferent passerby. Familiarize yourself with your state’s laws regarding animals in hot cars and do everything you can within the law to help. Often, all it takes is a phone call to be a hero.
H/T: eveningtimes.co.uk
