Jaci Dawn

This is a post that, unfortunately, has to be posted. Despite the media attention given to this subject, memes on Facebook warning about this, news articles (online and in print), and the general common sense that one should be born (or raised) with, this scenario continues to happen.

We attended Faerieworlds this weekend: my youngest daughter, her beau, and myself. Temps were predicted to reach the mid-eighties, but they soared into the low nineties under clear skies. I brought home a bit of a sunburn on my shoulders and down my back. We did not drink enough fluids, despite the several lemonades we downed, and our poor feet cramped by the time the sun dropped below the oak trees to give us shade.

Sometime around 3:00, we all trudged back to the car for a costume change. Chrystal found a lighter outfit to wear and needed to change and I needed something from my car. We were parked a good half-mile from the entrance (the earlier you arrive, the further you are parked from the entrance. It’s the reverse logic of the planning staff top park the late comers closer to the gate, perhaps because the latecomers will be leaving later than the early comers). The car was an oven and we opened all the doors to vent it while we primped. We were there a good fifteen to twenty minutes.

Brian and I watched a security guard who was busy trying to break into a camper or small RV. He was being overt, not attempting to hide what he was doing, and he was being careful with all of the closed windows and even the closed top vent. Around and around he went. We exchanged theories: he wasn’t trying to break in and steal – he was too obvious and he was a security guard with a little motorized golf cart. My theory was that there was a dog inside the unvented camper.

The guard had given up by the time we were walking the half mile back to the gate in the baking sun. He was on his two-way radio, speaking to someone inside the venue. The air was full of live music from the main stage, but a break came as we headed out and we could hear the announcement from the parking lot:

Unless you want a broken window in your RV, get out to the parking lot! The announcer went on to make some comments on the intelligence or people who leave dogs inside hot vehicles.

We met a few faire goers on their way out of the faire, but most were in that lazy heat-induced, tired, stroll of weary fey. None looked overly concerned. This led us to make some guesses as to the whereabouts of the owner of the vehicle and how long the security guard would wait before taking a crow bar to a locked window. We estimated we had been out there for 15-20 minutes and it would take us 10 minutes to get back to the main gate. The guard would probably wait for ten minutes to allow someone to contact the faire staff that they were on their way or to show up to rescue the pup. That puts the dog inside the RV for 25-30 minutes, minimum. No doubt it had been inside the RV for some time before the guard was summoned and he began his systematic attack on the security of the vehicle, so let’s say – ten minutes for someone to hear the pooch, walk to security & notify them, and another three or four for security to get out to the RV. Now, we’re up to a minimum of 45 minutes for the dog.

We did not hear the end of the tale. We can speculate, but we were not there when the owners arrived. What we do know was displayed on the grass when we returned to the car later in the afternoon for another break in our walk.

Safety glass in the grass where the camper/RV had been parked. The RV was long gone.

I don’t expect the security guard was too civil when the owner of the vehicle arrived and sound the glass in the grass and their dog lapping water from a stranger’s water bottle.

PLEASE – DON’T LEAVE CHILDREN OR PETS IN HOT VEHICLES!