It's a sad fact of life that we see stories every single year about animals left in warm vehicles.

Some of these animals suffer serious injuries and in worse-case scenarios, they die. While football season has returned and we are slowly starting to see our first few yellow leaves appearing on the trees, fall weather hasn't arrived and we still need to remember that it's dangerous to leave an animal in a hot car, even in September and October. Cars can be over 120 degrees in a matter of minutes when sitting out in the sun, which can obviously kill your pet.

Various parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota will all have temperatures in the mid-80s today, and even though fall weather might only be a month or two away, 85 degrees is way too hot to leave your pet sitting in the car for more than about 1 minute.

At that point, either leave the car running with the AC on or even better, just leave them at home. If you're running a quick errand and don't want to leave your car on, your dog will be okay while you run your 15-minute errand.

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We've discussed what the law is in Iowa when it comes to breaking into a vehicle to save an animal, so what about Wisconsin? Is it the same or are there slight differences?

Is it Legal to Break a Window to Save an Animal in Wisconsin?

If you're done shopping at Hyvee or Aldi and you're walking to your car in the parking lot and you see a dog that is sitting in a hot car, can you legally break the window in Wisconsin? Yes, you can.

According to SheboyganPress, Wisconsin has a law that makes breaking into a hot car to save a distressed pet completely legal.

Assembly Act 103 "protects good Samaritans from civil liability for breaking into a hot vehicle to rescue domesticated pets or people in distress." While this is legal, you are required to call the police before breaking a window.

While your heart is certainly in the right place, Captain James Veeser urges residents to allow police to assess a situation before trying to gain entry into the vehicle. He told the Sheboygan Press

"If someone encounters an animal in the vehicle and is concerned due to extreme warm weather that the animal is in distress, the first thing to do is call the dispatch center and notify them of the situation. In a sense of reacting to that situation, I think our response time can avoid someone breaking out the window of a vehicle. It doesn't take us very long to get there to determine what the situation is."

Here we have a classic case of "just because it's legal doesn't necessarily mean you should do it, without trying to find an alternative first." Breaking a window to save a pet should be used with caution and only in extreme situations. It's best to call the police first and then sit by the vehicle until the police arrive.