Walmart Employee Fired for Advising Customer Not to Leave Dog in Hot Truck?

A recent article reported that a Walmart employee was fired for advising a customer that he should not leave his dog locked in his truck on a hot summer day while he shopped.

And no one should leave a dog (or any pet, or a child, for that matter) locked in a vehicle on a warm day.  If it is 72 degrees outside, the temperature inside a closed car can reach over 100 degrees in just half an hour.  If it's in the mid-80's outside, the temperature inside a closed car (or even a car with the windows down a bit) can reach over 100 degrees in just 15 minutes, and that's hot enough for a dog to have a heat stroke and die. 

Less than 15 minutes.  When have you ever run into Walmart, purchased something, and been back to your car in less than 15 minutes?  Me neither.

I think it was kind of the employee to warn the customer about the danger, because not everyone realizes it can get so hot so quickly inside a car.  If people realized it, they wouldn't leave their dogs in the car.  Good grief, people leave kids inside cars.  Every summer, children die from being left in closed cars.  If people realized it could get so hot so quickly, they wouldn't do that. 

So the employee was being kind to warn the customer.  Let's assume the customer wasn't trying to kill his dog and that he would have been unhappy to return to his truck only to find his dog dead.

In many parts of the U.S., it's illegal to leave a pet in a closed car under dangerous conditions.  This actually took place at a Walmart in Canada, but I bet the laws are similar there.  So the employee could have simply phoned the police and/or animal control, and they would have come to rescue the dog, and animal control might have taken the dog away from its owner, and he might have been fined or even charged with cruelty to animals.  Personally, I'd rather have an employee warn me about leaving my dog in the car than have animal control take my dog away from me and be arrested for cruelty to animals.

But apparently the customer didn't appreciate the employee's advise and complained to the manager.  The manager didn't see it my way, either, and the employee was fired.

I contacted the Walmart corporate office, just to let them know how disappointed I am to hear they would fire an employee for attempting to protect a helpless dog left in a potentially life-threatening situation.  I was told that the employee was not fired for advising the customer not to leave the dog in the truck on a hot day, but for other reasons.  They said they could not share the other reasons with me, however. 

I'm skeptical.  I didn't expect them to admit that an employee was fired for warning a customer about the danger of leaving a dog in the car in the summer.  I'd have been surprised if they did admit that.  What do you think?  If you'd like to share your thoughts with Walmart officials, you can email them from the Walmart website.