A Missouri police dog has died from heat exhaustion after the air conditioner in the patrol vehicle he had been left in malfunctioned, authorities said.
Vader, a 4-year-old K-9 for the Arnold Police Department in suburban St. Louis, died on Wednesday from heat exhaustion, the department said.
The K-9 handler had left Vader inside a running patrol vehicle that had the air conditioner on, only to later discover the air conditioning system had malfunctioned, police said.
“Vader was immediately transported to a local veterinarian clinic where he showed signs of improvement,” police wrote, adding that after he was transported to a 24-hour clinic, he succumbed to his injuries.
Temperatures this past week in the St. Louis suburb were in the 90s with high humidity.
Police said that it’s common practice to leave the K-9 partner in an air-conditioned patrol car when they are not actively engaged in police work.
“All Arnold Police Department K-9 vehicles are equipped with a system that notifies the handler by phone, activates the emergency lights and siren, sounds the vehicle horn, activates cooling fans, and rolls down the vehicle windows, if the vehicle temperature increases to a certain level,” police wrote.
“In this instance, the heat alarm system failed to activate,” they added.
The police department is investigating the incident.
“Please keep Vader’s handler, his family, and the members of the APD in your thoughts and prayers as we mourn the loss of our K-9 partner,” police wrote.
This was the second hot-car death involving a Missouri police dog in the past year. In June, a dog named Horus died inside a hot car in Savannah, Missouri.
With Post wires
