5 Great Danes dead after owner left them locked in hot van for hours, complaint alleges

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV/Gray News) - A Wisconsin dog owner is facing charges after she allegedly left seven Great Danes locked in a hot van for more than five hours, leading to the deaths of five of them.

Judith Wiesner, 68, is charged with five counts of animal mistreatment causing death and two counts of intentionally mistreating animals. A criminal complaint filed Tuesday alleges she left her seven Great Danes – one adult dog and six puppies – in a hot van for more than five hours while she went to work last Saturday.

Wiesner told Madison police officers she lived in the van with the seven dogs. According to the complaint, she left the dogs in the van around 10:30 a.m. and did not check on them for more than five hours. When she returned at 3:45 p.m., the dogs “were in distress.”

Wiesner told police she tried to cool the dogs down by pouring water and ice on them. She said she did not take them to get proper medical care because it was too expensive, according to the complaint.

The adult dog, Macy, was found dead in the back of the van, and a puppy named Ciron was found dead outside of the van, the complaint said.

Officials took the other five puppies – Little Girl, Little Boy, Maeve, Aaron and Finley – to an animal hospital, where a veterinarian determined all of them suffered heat stroke. Three of the puppies needed to be euthanized. The two surviving puppies were in critical condition, according to the complaint.

The complaint cites data from the National Weather Service that indicated the temperature for Madison just before 3:55 p.m. last Saturday was 80.1 degrees.

Wiesner appeared Tuesday in Dane County Circuit Court, where a court commissioner set a $500 signature bond for her. Conditions of her bond state she is not allowed to have any domesticated animal, online court records show.

She is set to appear in court again on Oct. 2.