While in a Walmart parking lot, I watched a dog suffocating from being locked in a hot car without the windows rolled down in August. When I notified Walmart's customer service department of the emergency, asking if they could make an announcement over their loud speaker to notify the dog's owners and save its life, they refused to do so, saying that making an announcement would violate Walmart policy and they could lose their jobs. I was told that similar requests concerning pets left in locked cars have been frequently brought to their attention and that they have not done something, resulting in the suffering and potential deaths of many pets.
I called Walmart Corporate and they confirmed that these announcements violate their policy.
In a very short period of time, an overheated dog can suffer critical brain, heart, liver and nervous system damage. It can take just six minutes for a dog to die of heat exhaustion. These deaths can be easily avoided through an announcement. Surely rescuing an animal under these conditions, and avoiding horrible damage and death should be rewarded rather than punished.
By signing this petition, you will put pressure on Walmart to change their policy to allow their employees to make announcements that will save the lives of their customer's pets and not put their employee's jobs at risk for doing so.
Here is an example of Walmart punishing their employee's in the past: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ontario-wal-mart-employee-says-she-was-fired-for-calling-police-about-dog-locked-in-car
For more information on how to help when you see an animal locked in a hot car: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ontario-wal-mart-employee-says-she-was-fired-for-calling-police-about-dog-locked-in-car
