LAKE STATION, Ind. — An air conditioning unit failure caused at least eight dog deaths Thursday as they were being transported to a training facility in Michigan City, Indiana.
According to the Lake Station Police Department, the truck the dogs were being transported in got stuck in a 2-hour traffic delay when the AC unit keeping the canines cool failed.
The cargo area where the dogs were held was separated from the driver, whose attention was caught by the dogs' continuous barking later in the ride. When he stopped to check in on them, the driver said he noticed visible distress and began to remove them from the truck before calling police.
Police called the incident a "freak event," and believe it wasn't an act of animal cruelty or neglect, but a mechanical failure.
However, the Humane Society in Hobart is saying there were several issues with the way the dogs were being transported.
"We noticed many infractions, one being they did not have the proper paperwork, nor was it presented to us," said Jenny Weber, the humane society's executive director. "They also were transporting in conditions that weren't safe to do so."
Five dogs are now in the hospital recovering.