A metro Phoenix community college teacher’s civics assignment wound up helping create a law to aid dogs trapped in hot cars.
Debra Nolen, who teaches ethics, suggested her students find ways to help dogs left behind in locked vehicles.
“I wanted to find a topic for them to learn about civic engagement and social responsibility and this seemed perfect,’’ she said.
Complete newcomers to politics, students and teacher contacted Nolen’s state legislator, John Kavanagh, who had previously supported other animal-welfare laws. He agreed to sponsor their bill and other Arizona animal-rights groups got behind it.
Under the new law, someone who uses “reasonable force” to break into an unattended motor vehicle is not subject to civil damages if there’s a “good faith belief” a child or animal “is in imminent danger of suffering physical injury or death.”
via Whisker Therapy