Council to vote on ordinance involving animals left in hot vehicles | Government and Politics | #citycouncil


SIOUX CITY — The Sioux City Council will be asked Monday to adopt an ordinance that prohibits individuals from keeping animals in a vehicle or the bed of a parked truck in ambient temperature that exceeds 79 degrees Fahrenheit, unless the animal is enclosed inside the vehicle with the air conditioning turned on.

Chris Wall, of the Sioux City Animal Adoption and Rescue Center, said the change to the city code isn’t being proposed in response to any increase in people leaving animals in their vehicles on hot days.

“I think that the message, in all honesty, is getting through to people,” he said. “We are getting calls for them. But, typically, what has happened is by the time we get there, the people have gone.” 

The current city code has a nonspecific requirement that animals not be kept in vehicles during conditions of “temperature extremes.” According to city documents, the proposed ordinance is adapted from a similar code in Stillwater, Oklahoma, a place that often experiences higher summer temperature extremes. It will supply police and animal control personnel with an “enforceable, quantifiable threshold condition” to determine a violation, the documents state. 

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“Excessive heat is open to interpretation,” Wall said. “What they’ve done now is they’re bringing in a 79 degree Fahrenheit ambient temperature outside, so everybody’s in the same ballpark. Everybody’s on the same page.” 

Under the current city code and the proposed amendment, any peace officer or animal control officer is authorized to use whatever force is reasonable and necessary to remove any animal from a vehicle or other enclosed space whenever it appears that the animal’s life or health is endangered by extreme temperatures or lack of ventilation. The officers would not be liable for any damages caused to the vehicle or other enclosed space. 

“It becomes a priority 1 situation if there’s any animal in distress in a vehicle. That’s pretty much drop what you’re doing and get to that call,” Wall said. 

Wall said he couldn’t recall any situations last year, or so far this year that involved Sioux City animal control officers or police officers having to break out a vehicle’s window in order to rescue an animal from the heat. He said anyone found in violation of the proposed ordinance would receive a municipal infraction penalty. A first offense would be $100 plus costs, for a total of $195. 


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