Stay cool

The country needs to get embittered about this. Most new cars today come with life-long organic coolants, ethylene-glycol based and very poisonous to small animals. What is worse, these coolants taste and smell sweet so when they leak unto the drive or roadway small animals will be attracted to it and lap up the spill. It takes as little as one teaspoon of ethylene-glycol coolant to cause kidney failure and death in a small dog.

Several companies, (Peak's Sierra, most notably) has developed a safe coolant based on the chemically similar propylene-glycol which is much less toxic. Unfortunately not all manufacturers have switched to it because it is more expensive and most manufacturers will void your warranty if you substitute the less toxic coolant for the one specified.

California and Oregon now require that any coolant sold in those states be "embittered" so that it tastes awful to animals, even little kids. The manufacturer adds a chemical stink agent to the formula that cost 2-3 cents per gallon.

Veterinarians and animal control wardens promote the embittered coolant and the less toxic propylene based formula as common sense methods to easily reduce environmental pollution and the accidental poisoning of thousands of domestic and wild animals.