ADVOCATES UPSET OVER DOG'S DEATH

Angered by the death of a drug-sniffing dog left in a car during
100-degree-plus temperatures last week, animal advocates Wednesday said the
federal Drug Enforcement Administration agent responsible should get more
than a slap on the wrist.

"If they were negligent, the person should be fired," said Gene
Baierschmidt, executive director of the Humane Society of Utah. "We are
outraged that an incident like this could occur with a person who is
trained to work with these dogs. There is no excuse for this dog's terrible
death."

The victim was Lady, a beagle trained to detect illicit drugs for the Metro
Narcotics Task Force in Salt Lake County.

She died Friday after being left in the agent's car for several hours. The
DEA has not released the circumstances surrounding the officer's decision
to leave the dog in the car.

If the DEA fails to adequately investigate the case, Baierschmidt said, he
may seek prosecution of the agent responsible under Utah's animal-cruelty
statute, which makes it a misdemeanor to mistreat an animal.

Baierschmidt said he offered to help investigate Lady's death, but was
turned down by Don Mendrala, the agent in charge of Utah's DEA office.
"They said they would show us the results of their investigation,"
Baierschmidt said. "When they do, we'll see if we want to go further.

"The public does not like animal cruelty. We're hoping they'll do an
investigation, and a good one."

Baierschmidt said Mendrala declined to give him any details, nor would he
say when the DEA's investigation would be complete.

Mendrala did not return a call from The Salt Lake Tribune. But he told The
Associated Press: "We're going through the investigation now to try and
figure out what happened."

He would not speculate on possible disciplinary action.

"Anything we do and anything that I do administratively is not going to
make this guy feel any worse than he does now," Mendrala said.

Because of the undercover nature of his work, the agent's identity is being
kept confidential. Lady's value as a trained narcotics dog has been
estimated between $2,000 and $5,000.

Baierschmidt warned dog owners to never leave an animal in a parked car,
even in the shade and with the windows partly open.

On a 100-degree day, temperatures quickly soar to 160 degrees inside a car,
and heatstroke is "a horrible way to die," he said.

In extreme heat, an animal's metabolic rate increases until sufficient
oxygen can no longer be delivered to the body's tissues, Baierschmidt said.
The brain swells, the tongue thickens, muscles twitch, eyes glaze and the
animal becomes dizzy and vomits.

Said Baierschmidt: "This is literally like dying in hell."