 It's hot. We're just around the corner from summer. The skies are blue. The sun is shining. It's hot And it's also creating a dangerous situation and one in which law enforcement here in Pikeville are already dealing with Calls have been pouring into the Pikeville Police Department with complaints of animals being left in hot cars The department has fielded nearly 40 such calls since April 1st with more than two dozen of those calls coming since the 1st of May We keep getting numerous complaints of animals being left unattended in vehicles and all these various parking lots throughout town Over the last couple years it's become a big problem for us. People are becoming more aware Watching for pets and vehicles and things and they're going to call us immediately when they see it Captain Chris Edmonds said officers have not yet found an animal in distress in a car But if one is found in danger the owner of the vehicle will face criminal charges If we do come and find a dog in distress, you know, we are going to site that owner of that vehicle The owner of that pet for a cruelty animal's second degree if we find them in distress Pike Animal Control Officer Jason Burke said the late spring early summer heat can make dangerous situations pop up quickly On a good hot humid day they can get in distress probably within 15-20 minutes They start slobbering real bad out of the mouth, they'll start panting, tongues sticking out Within 20-30 minutes they can have what they call a heat stroke, animals can have heat strokes and possibly death Now exactly how quickly will a car heat up? Let's find out We borrowed EKB reporter Shelby Still's car and ran the air conditioner until the temperature in the cabin was about 80 degrees Once the air was turned off within 25 minutes the temperature eclipsed 100 degrees Officials say the best thing to do in the spring and summer heat is to leave animals at home if possible We encourage people if you can leave your pet at home please do There's no reason to come lock him in a car, lock him or her in the car, the dog, cat, whatever I wouldn't take my animal and leave it in the car because that's just crazy Just leave it at the house, leave it with somebody that takes care of it But never take it to Walmart or anywhere that you're going to be inside there for a couple of hours and leave it in the car Now Pikeville 911 Dispatch said they haven't taken any calls yet about children left in hot cars this spring But that's something they definitely want to warn people about not to leave pets or children in hot cars Reporting in Pikeville for EKB News, I'm Chris Anderson