INDIANA -- Two Wal-Mart employees have been charged with felony animal cruelty after authorities said they followed a manager's orders to shoot and kill a stray cat.
The men, both assistant managers at the store, told police the manager had ordered them to get rid of the animal, which was living in a storage trailer behind their store.
Christopher Anderson, 29, and Jeffrey Hardin, 21, repeatedly shot the cat with a pellet gun from the store until it died, a sheriff's report said.
Wal-Mart conducted an investigation and said it had fired three employees over the incident.
The company did not name the employees.
"We were sickened by this cruelty," Kevin D. Miller, regional vice president for the Arkansas-based retailer, said Thursday.
The company said it planned to donate $10,000 to be shared by the Vanderburgh County and Warrick County humane societies in Indiana.
(Los Angeles Times - Dec 31, 2004)
