On a hot and muggy Tuesday, SF State Police and San Francisco Animal Control saved a Dalmatian locked in a silver Mitsubishi Eclipse for several hours outside Mary Ward Hall.

The dog was left inside the car for at least seven hours, even after SF State police confiscated the keys to the car, which were hanging from the driver's side door.

SF State groundskeeper Anthony McGwuire first noticed the dog at around 7 a.m. “I was walking down Font Boulevard when I heard a bark from one of the cars, I looked in and saw that there was a dog inside with the windows rolled up,” he said.

McGwuire said he did not call the police right away because he thought that the owner would return. “After a hour of being out there it was getting pretty hot, so I thought the best thing to do would be to tell my boss.”

SF State police either were not called or did not respond to the scene immediately. At 9:26 a.m. SF State Parking and Transportation Officer Rosario Sotomayor arrived at the scene because the car was parked illegally. “As I was issuing the car a citation I noticed that there was a dog inside, so I called campus police.“

With the help of an SF State officer, Sotomayor pried open the sunroof of the coupe and fed a garden hose inside to give the dog some water, but because of concerns for property damage to the car the hose was taken out.

SF State Police also found that the keys to the car were left in the driver's side door. The car keys were confiscated and a note was left for the owner.

“After that I drove by at least nine or 10 times throughout the day, but nobody had come to rescue the dog,” Sotomayor said.

At around 12 p.m. several SF State residential hall employees noticed the dog and called Animal Control, which responded to the scene at 1:20 p.m.

“I came a little after 1 p.m. and looked through the window and I noticed that the dog had stopped barking, which was worrisome,” said animal control officer Eleanor Sadler. Since Sadler could not get into the car, she along with several resident hall employees put wet towels on the back windows in order to cool the temperature inside the car.

“It can get up to a hundred degrees in a car on a hot day and unlike humans, dogs can’t perspire except through their tongue and palms of their feet,” said Sadler.

Several bystanders, along with the animal control officer, were considering breaking the car windows in order to rescue the dog. But before any action was taken, SF State Police officers showed up at 2:26 p.m. with the keys to the car and the dog was rescued peacefully.

Sadler immediately gave the dog water and checked it for dehydration. The dog was taken under custody by animal control and the owner would be given up to five days to reclaim the dog. But if the owner does reclaim the dog, that person will face hefty fines.

“Whoever owns this dog is going to be fined for animal cruelty, mistreatment and anything else that I can slap on them,” Sadler said.