The Cornelius Police Department and the Animal Control Division would like to remind everyone to not leave pets inside vehicles.

It doesn't have to be that warm outside for a car to become dangerously hot inside. Here are some facts:

• When it's 72 degrees Fahrenheit outside, the temperature inside your car can heat up to 116 degrees Fahrenheit within an hour.
• When it's 80 degrees Fahrenheit outside, the temperature inside your car can heat up to 99 degrees Fahrenheit within 10 minutes.
• Rolling down the windows has been shown to have little effect on the temperature inside a car.

If you see an animal in a car exhibiting signs of heat stress,
call your local animal care and control agency or police
department immediately and take the following steps:

1. Get the vehicle’s tag number and enter the nearest store
or business to request an emergency announcement
be made about a pet left in a hot car.
2. Go back and wait for police at the vehicle.