A Hinds County Sheriff's Department K-9 died of a heat stroke inside a department vehicle.
The K-9 named Dex was Hinds County's top drug-detecting officer, Major Pete Luke told media. The 6-year-old Belgium Malinois belonged to Deputy Lafayette Martin who left the K9 in his running vehicle for about an hour while he was having lunch at a restaurant.
The 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe stopped running while the deputy was in the restaurant and Dex died of a heat stroke. The death happened within recent weeks, WAPT reported. The handler was devastated, Major Luke said.
The department has authorized equipping K-9 vehicles with heat sensors to override mechanical breakdowns and simple human error.
Some warning systems, synchronized to rising vehicle temperatures, activate sirens and light bars, open vehicle windows and automatically switch on internal fans to fight extreme heat, according to USA Today. The heat alerts are then sent to handlers' phones or department dispatch centers. While some alert systems only work while the vehicle engines are on, others maintain alarms when engines are switched off to notify handlers who may have become distracted by other duties outside the car or who have mistakenly walked away at the end of a shift.
Hinds County currently has five K-9s on duty. The vehicle that Dex died in has been pulled from the fleet and returned to the dealer for repair.
Temperatures in a closed vehicle can rise quickly, according to The American Veterinary Medical Association, a non-profit association representing more than 86,500 veterinarians.
“At 60 minutes, the temperature in (a) vehicle can be more than 40 degrees higher than the outside temperature,” the association says on its website.
Last summer, a Southaven Police Department K-9 died under similar circumstances.
The dog, a 6-year-old Labrador mix named Gunner, died when his handler left him in the K-9 unit cruiser while it was not running. After the unidentified officer found the dog, he was taken to a vet but could not be saved.
