I'll try to keep this brief.  I think IATA in this situation but decided I should seek an official answer so I can finally rest easy either way.  

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I was on a mission trip and there was another family there including a young boy, maybe around age 10, whose parents I'd gotten to know.  For part of the trip we were near a beach.  This kid pocketed a salt water sea snail.  Later we were doing some work on a building that was being renovated and eventually would become a sort of community outreach place.  The kid (who I was on good terms with) approached me to show me some things he collected at the beach.  A few pebbles and a snail that was literally on death's door.  We were a far bus ride back to town and there didn't seem to be anyway for this snail to survive.  There was no running water at this building though water bottles were available and it was located near a neighborhood.  This snail looked to be minutes from a cold, lonely death.

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In my non expert opinion, it seemed there was literally no hope for this snail to live.  Rather than let him walk around with a dead snail in his pocket, I told him we should "let it go."  Well what I meant by this was basically let it die outside of his pocket.  He later told his parents who seemed furious (in a very passive aggressive way) about this whole matter; pretty much ruined the relationship I had with them.  But really, would it have been that much cooler for me to just let him walk around and then see the snail die in his pocket?  I feel bad about it but need to verify I should.  Or maybe I should've stuck it in a water bottle? but that seemed pointless (not sure it can even survive outside of salt water).  Thanks reddit.  I await your advice.