Animal welfare activist group PETA asks Walmart to install signs in store parking lots reminding customers of the danger of leaving animals and children in hot cars, officials said in a statement.

PETA sent the letter to Walmart CEO Doug McMillon in response to the death of a dog left in a hot car in Trussville earlier this month, officials said.

The dog's owner, 34-year-old Stephanie Shae Thomas, was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals following the incident.

In the letter, PETA says multiple children and dogs have died after being left in cars at Walmart parking lots. PETA also said at least 39 animals and 29 children have died after being left in hot cars across America this summer.

"As the Trussville community recently saw firsthand, a parked car can be a death trap for dogs or children who can't escape as temperatures soar and their bodies shut down," says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. "PETA is urging Walmart to help prevent future tragedies by reminding customers never to leave vulnerable family members in the car."

Officials said Thomas' dog was left in a hot car for about eight hours on July 4. Officers responded to the Walmart parking lot around 11 a.m. after shoppers saw the dog suffering in the back of a Mercedes sedan.

Police ran the car's tag number and paged the woman over the loudspeaker multiple times before getting permission to break one of the rear windows and rescue the dog, officials said.

Thomas later confessed to leaving the dog in the car while she went inside Walmart, Dillon said.

"She stated that she never went outside the store to check on the dog and that she lost track of time while she was shopping,'' Trussville police Lt. Phil Dillon said at the time.

A Change.org petition to create a law making it illegal to leave a dog in a car in Alabama has gained more than 186,000 signatures. A Facebook group called Justice for Esther (Sky) the Walmart dog has also been created to support the passage of a Good Samaritan law in Alabama that would provide civil protection for someone who broke into a car to save an animal.

Walmart did not immediately respond to requests for comment late Monday afternoon.