
Those circumstances include acting to provide first aid to a person who is in imminent danger. Section 14-56 of the NC General Statutes offers some protections for civilians who break into a car for the sake of a human being who is in danger. This means that a person could still be found liable for breaking into a vehicle, even if they do so in the interest of saving an animal in danger. Regular citizens are not included in this law. The law does not apply to the transportation of horses, cattle, sheep, swine, poultry or other livestock.

19A-45, law enforcement officer, firefighter, or rescue squad worker, who has probable cause to believe that an animal is confined in a motor vehicle under conditions that are likely to cause suffering, injury, or death to the animal due to heat, cold, lack of adequate ventilation, or under other endangering conditions, may enter the motor vehicle by any reasonable means under the circumstances after making a reasonable effort to locate the owner or other person responsible for the animal. In order to protect the health and safety of an animal, any animal control officer, animal cruelty investigator appointed under G.S.

It should be noted, however, that the law requires that officials make an effort to locate the animal’s owner or caretaker before doing so. Hit-and-run on N Main St in Mount Airy, 1 hurt: policeĪccording to the North Carolina General Statutes, designated officials such as law enforcement, firefighters and animal control officers are allowed to enter or, if need be, break into vehicles to save an animal in danger.
