Payson Roundup

Gila County Animal Control delivered one man’s dogs to the Humane Society Wednesday after a bystander discovered them abandoned in a trailer in a Star Valley parking lot with little water and no food, said Gila County Sheriff’s Sgt. George Scott.

Police filed a report for animal cruelty, but Scott said he doubts charges will stick because no laws were broken.

“It wasn’t cool, but it wasn’t cruel,” said Humane Society of Central Arizona Animal Care Supervisor Lisa Boyle. “He had no place else to put the dogs.”

George said the man was helping a friend nearby, and had someone check on the dogs throughout the day.

George said the threshold for animal cruelty varies.

“If you have animals in your backyard, and there’s no food or water, that constitutes animal cruelty,” he said. “People can innocently do it.”

The man, who has lived in several towns locally and the forest, retrieved his dogs eventually. George wasn’t sure when.

With summer heat, Boyle said caring for pets is vital.

“People need to realize,” she said, “if it’s 95 degrees outside, how hot is it in a car with the windows open?”