Dog trapped in hot car finds forever home with police officer who rescued him

Snow the dog trapped in hot car being adopted by officer Maharaj
(Image credit: @NYPD19Pct/Twitter)

A dog trapped in a hot car on a sweltering summer’s day in New York City has found a forever home with the NYPD officer who rescued him after enduring a month-long recovery.

The gorgeous American Eskimo pup, who has now been named Snow, was spotted by several concerned New Yorkers in a locked car with the windows closed back in June.

After receiving several calls, officers went out to investigate and later shared footage of Snow’s rescue, which included the breaking of the front passenger window to free him followed by treats and lots of water.

"Hot car, hot dog rescue — thanks to caring NYers who saw this pup locked in a car for over 2 hours & called 911! Our cops responded discovering the car off, windows shut & distressed dog," the precinct wrote with the clip on Twitter. "They broke the window, got pup out & off to a vet for care. Criminal investigation continues."

While it was originally believed that Snow had been in the car for around two hours, the ASPCA who took him in and nursed her back to health says it was likely closer to 24 hours.

Temperatures that day were reported to be in the mid-80s with the precinct stating that in that kind of weather it only takes around 10 minutes for a locked car to reach a deadly 102 degrees inside. 

One of the officers that rescued Snow, Aruna Maharaj, stayed in touch with the ASPCA during Snow’s treatment and recovery and in a heartwarming moment late last month, she decided to adopt him and give him the life he deserves.

"A month ago, this sweet doggo was rescued after his owner left him in his hot locked car for hours; yesterday, one of its rescuers, Officer Maharaj, adopted him!" the precinct tweeted. "Thank you @ASPCA for taking such good care of this lucky pup!"

While Maharaj wasn’t looking to adopt a pet, the ASPCA describes what happened between the pair during the rescue as love at first sight.

"She immediately brought him into her car with the air conditioner blasting, where he sat on her lap, licked her face and wouldn’t move from her company," an ASPCA spokesperson said.

The ASPCA say Snow has quickly settled into his new home, where he’s getting used to having a big backyard to play in, a local park to walk to and a cat for a sibling. 

Kathryn Williams
Freelance writer

Kathryn is a freelance writer who has been a member of the PetsRadar family since it launched in 2020. Highly experienced in her field, she's driven by a desire to provide pet parents with accurate, timely, and informative content that enables them to provide their fur friends with everything they need to thrive. Kathryn works closely with vets and trainers to ensure all articles offer the most up-to-date information across a range of pet-related fields, from insights into health and behavior issues to tips on products and training. When she’s not busy crafting the perfect sentence for her features, buying guides and news pieces, she can be found hanging out with her family (which includes one super sassy cat), drinking copious amounts of Jasmine tea and reading all the books.