After Ruth and Lloyd Sawyer helped rescue a 2-year-old pit bull from the closed
cab of a broiling hot U-Haul truck at their Fort Myers condo Sunday they checked further and found a pit bull puppy.
And then they found another, and another and then five more pit bull pups, some near death from what the couple said was about an hourlong exposure to high temperatures.
[...]
The animals had been left in the sweltering truck on a record 96-degree day in Fort Myers. The man who claimed ownership was later arrested by Fort Myers police for animal cruelty.
Ruth Sawyer had been keeping an eye on the truck for about an hour when her husband suggested she look because he thought he had heard a dog.
[...]
After the couple got the mother and seven pups out from inside the cab of the large U-Haul truck, which she said was parked in full sun, they called police.
According to the National Weather Service, the high temperature in Fort Myers on Sunday was 96, a record. For a closed vehicle on a 95-degree day, the inside temperature will climb to 133 degrees within 40 minutes, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Ruth Sawyer said police responded within minutes with Lee County EMTs and the Lee County Domestic Animal Services close behind.
Police officers took the distressed puppies into their patrol vehicles to use the air conditioning to help the animals respond.
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"They were using an infant mask on the puppies," Ruth Sawyer said.
The vehicle's owner, Dustin Michael Unwin, 28, of Holiday, claimed ownership of the dogs and the U-Haul truck.
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Precious and her 2-week-old puppies were turned over to Lee County Domestic Animal Services.
Ruth Sawyer said Unwin was not a resident there but said he had been visiting. "He told us he was on his way moving from Lehigh to Lakeland and stopped to see a relative here. He told the police repeatedly he left them (the dogs) for 10 minutes, but we know that's not true," she said.
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