Animals left alone in cars while their owners go shopping is a very common form of animal abuse carried out in all countries. Many do not see this as a form of animal abuse, however it is a social issue that needs to be addressed and brought to a stop. Owners of these animals need to be apprehended and animals taken into custody.
This campaign has been created for the SPCA in Cape Town for them to address this issue. The aim of the campaign is to raise awarenesss, create a group of 'spotters', educate owners and encourage them not to do this to their animals. This campaign consists of posters that work as a series but can work as individual posters. They would be placed in areas where this form of abuse happens offten such as shopping malls, as well common places where animals are taken such as parks or vetinary practises. Each poster acts as a timer, the amount of time you are away from your car and in that time what is currently happening to your animal. There are stages in which the animal goes through within a specific amount of time, and the amount of time it takes for that animal to be close to death.
The temperature inside and outside of the car is significantly different and every minuet the temperature inside increases. The moment one leaves the car, it is 32C inside and at that moment the animals cooling mechanisms kick in, drooling, panting and their blood vessels begin to dilate. This and their possible thoughts are shown in the poster below.
Ten minuets left inside the car and the temperature rises to 38C, at this stage the animals blood pressure is affected. The heart begins to work harder to supply blood to the dialated vessels, blood begins to pool in the organs and blood pressure begins to drop. This and the animals possible thoughts are shown in the poster below.
Half an hour left inside the car and the temperature is now 40C. This is when the organs are severily damaged. Kidney cells suffer thermal damage, small blood cots form, cells lining the intestine and stomach suffer thermal damage leading to severe bloody diarrhea and vomiting, liver cells die and small blood clots form in the brain and it begins to swell. This and the possible thoughts the animal is having is shown in the poster below.
After half an hour of being alone, the temperature is 44C and increasing. This is the stage when the animal is very close to death and if not attended to immedietly it will die inside the car. Suffering from brain damage, seizures the animal will go into a coma and possibly not wakeup from this.
Be aware, stand up for animals in destress. Animal crulety is a crime!
