What are rescuers allowed to do?
On Twitter, the Stuttgart police first appealed to the owners’ sense of responsibility: “Please do not leave any animals / people in cars,” it says in view of the hot days. Anyone who notices a dangerous situation should dial “the emergency number immediately”.
The lawyer Andreas Ackenheil, who specializes in animal law, also advises: “Anyone who notices a dog or other animal in distress in a car, for example, should call the police immediately.”
Legal regulation
According to the expert, the window should only be smashed in in an extreme emergency. Before doing so, you always have to make an emergency call and verifiably look for the vehicle owner, for example by having him called in the parking lot. If life is in danger, the dog should ultimately be forcibly removed from the car. The lawyer advises doing this together with witnesses. Anyone who saves a dog or other animal from the impending heat death in this way is legally on the safe side. Because the Criminal Code justified in paragraph 34, a danger to “life, limb, liberty, honor, property or another legal asset” to be averted with appropriate means. This also included animals, according to the animal law expert.
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