(Radio Iowa) – A heat advisory covers 97 of Iowa’s 99 counties through tonight (Wednesday) as heat indices may reach 105 degrees. The heat can be harmful to people — and pets. Sybil Soukup, with the Humane Society of North Iowa, says having your window cracked in your vehicle does absolutely nothing to help animals left inside. She says they’ve experimented with a thermometer in a car in the Humane Society’s parking lot.

“With the windows closed, the car got up to almost 140 degrees in a matter of 20 minutes. That will kill your pet. Your pet will die in that kind of environment,” Soukup says. “Cracking the windows lowered that temperature by about two degrees, so it does not matter. On a day like today when it’s just humidity, I don’t know if it makes much difference, because that humidity is just so hot.”

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Soukup says if you see a pet in a vehicle, don’t immediately take matters into your own hands. See if the vehicle is running, and if it’s not, don’t try to break the window out to rescue the pet, call law enforcement to help assess the situation. “It’s illegal, and you could get charged with destruction of property. What I would do is call the police department in my community,” she says. “They will send out an officer who can then determine if a window needs to be broken or not, and they will take over and they will find the owner in the store or restaurant or whatever.”

Soukup says pets that are kept outside or left in parked cars are very susceptible to heat stroke, injury and even death in extreme conditions.