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Witness says law enforcement given wrong information yesterday about dog locked in a car

By Howard B. Owens

Yesterday, there was a report of a dog locked in a car on South Lake Avenue in Bergen but according to a woman who said she witnessed the whole thing, it didn't go down anything like the way it was reported to law enforcement.

Julianna Kalke said the dog was in the car no more than five or 10 minutes -- not the 45 minutes originally reported -- and not only did the owner roll down all the windows but she stayed by the car the whole time and talked with the dog.

The woman, Kalke said, stopped for a cigarette break.

"I am an absolute animal lover and attended Cornell University School of Veterinary Medicine and I did not see any harm to the animal," Kalke said. "If anything, the owner was doing the right thing by exiting the car so the dog did not inhale secondhand smoke."

Kalke described the woman who reported the dog in the car to dispatchers as "rude" to the dog's owner.

"(She was) harassing the poor woman who was just trying to do the right thing," Kalke said.

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