Maine Proposal To Let People Save Pets From Cars Appears Dead

A proposal in Maine to allow residents to enter other people’s vehicles to try to remove an endangered animal appears to be dead. The measure came before a committee of the Maine Legislature last year and received a disapproving vote. The bill proposed a law change that a person acting in good faith who removed an animal from a vehicle would be immune to criminal or civil liability. The proposal is not up for consideration again this year, said Katie Hansberry, Maine senior state director for the Humane Society of the United States, which backed the bill. One positive outgrowth of the proposal is that animal control officers in the state will now be trained to respond to situations in which an animal is in danger because it can’t escape a vehicle, Hansberry said.