LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Las Vegas Metro police released video Thursday of security personnel and police rescuing a puppy left in a car parked at Las Vegas Strip casino with its mouth taped shut and as temperatures inside the vehicle reached triple digits.
Raul Carbajal, 50, of Corona Del Mar, California, faces a charge of animal abuse, 8 News Now first reported last week. The dog, a 3-month-old puppy, was found inside the car, which was parked in the direct sunlight on the garage’s top floor, police said.
The video shows police putting Carbajal into handcuffs.
Officers responded to a report of an animal in distress at a parking garage at the Bellagio hotel around 3 p.m. on July 20. Hotel security was able to remove the puppy from the car by climbing through the vehicle’s sunroof, they said.
The temperature inside the car was nearly 108 degrees, police said. The animal was left without food, water, or air conditioning.
“The safety and wellness of our employees and guests is always a top priority — pets included,” a spokesperson for MGM Resorts, which owns the Bellagio, said in a statement, “We commend our guest for taking action and notifying the Bellagio security team, who was quick to respond and make the rescue.”
Carbajal had posted bond by Thursday and was due in court next week. Police documents indicate the dog did not die in the incident.
Local rescue group such as Southern Nevada Animal Rescue League wants the public to know no matter the situation, anyone struggling with a pet can always surrender it to a local shelter.
“They need us and that’s what we are here for,” Kaylea Campbell the managing director of SNARL told 8 News Now. “Even when we’re full, we still try our very hardest to help so they aren’t in that kind of abusive situation.”
