Police Rescue Bulldog from Hot Car in New Jersey While the Owner Shopped

Police unlocked the car door and rescued the bulldog.

ByABC News
July 29, 2015, 11:28 AM

— -- Police and a bystander helped rescue a dog from a searing hot car when its owner was nowhere to be found.

Fifi — an English bulldog — was left in the car by her owner in Tenafly, New Jersey, on Monday and luckily, a Good Samaritan and police were able to get her out and save her life.

“The dog was within five minutes of passing out in the passenger seat,” Robyn Urman told ABC News today. “The windows weren’t cracked at all and that car had to be more than 100 degrees.”

Two people came into the hair salon where Urman works and told her about the panting and drooling dog locked in the black Mercedes SUV outside.

Urman — who is also the owner of PetResQ Inc. — said she went into local stores to try to find the owner and when that didn’t work, she took to social media and posted photos of Fifi and the woman’s car to her Facebook page.

“Lucky for that dog, the cops showed up quickly when I called 911. The cop noticed how in distressed Fifi was and was able to unlock the door,” she said.

PHOTO: Police helped rescue a bulldog left in a hot car, July 27, 2015, in Tenafly, N.J.
Police helped rescue a bulldog left in a hot car, July 27, 2015, in Tenafly, N.J.

“I gave her water to cool her off and splashed it on her. I started walking her up and down the block to find the owner, who was still nowhere to be found,” Urman added.

The female dog owner came out of a CVS store 40 minutes after Urman first saw Fifi, Urman said.

“[The owner] came out screaming for me to not touch her dog and she blamed me for it all. She said she had been watching Fifi from the store windows the whole time. The CVS actually has blacked out windows, so that wasn’t possible,” Urman said.

PHOTO: Police helped rescue a bulldog left in a hot car, July 27, 2015, in Tenafly, N.J.
Police helped rescue a bulldog left in a hot car, July 27, 2015, in Tenafly, N.J.

The Bergen County Sheriff's Office declined to comment and directed all inquires to the Bergen County SPCA. The woman was not ticketed at the scene and the Bergen County SPCA is investigating whether the woman will be brought up on charges, an investigator told ABC News today.