Sadie, with Jason Baldinelli
Husky terrier mix Sadie, of Dixfield ME, rescued a newborn kitten from the woods near her home on Wednesday and set into motion an effort to find someone to care for the helpless baby. The 2 1/2 year old dog, a rescue herself, found the kitten at its birthsite, where it was seemingly abandoned, picked it up, carried it home, and gently placed it at her owner, 17 year old Jason Baldinelli’s, feet. Jason called his mother at work, asking her what he should do for the tiny, mostly white, cold kitten; then he tried to keep the kitten warm while finding someone to help. A neighbor called Dirigo High School teacher Athena Sanders, who said to bring the kitten to her. Jason had athletic practice, so his brother Julian delivered the kitten to Athena, then she and another teacher at the school, Heidi Broomhall, tried unsuccessfully to find help from veterinarians, animal shelters and code enforcement officers.
When Jason and Julian’s mother Myriah Thebarge got home from work that day she took Sadie out. The dog headed into the woods and led Myriah to the spot where she had found the kitten. Myriah told a reporter from the Bangor Daily News, “She instantly went right over and she touched her nose to the ground and I could see where the mother cat had laid down.” Myriah saw a little patch of fur and discovered a dead littermate that she thinks the mother had tried to bury. She gave it a proper burial before leaving the area. Myriah said Sadie would not ordinarily have left the yard and gone into the woods, and she thinks the dog may have responded to the kitten’s cries of distress.
Meanwhile,Heidi’s friend Terri Demmons, a vet tech from Freeport, ME, saw a post about the kitten at Heidi’s Facebook page. Terri drove up to Dixfield, got the kitten, and took her back home to care for her. Tiny, as she was by then called, had trouble feeding from the syringe, so Terri took her to Androscoggin Animal Hospital in nearby Topsham. From there,Tiny went to the Coastal Humane Society in neighboring Brunswick. Tiny is now in foster care, and the Coastal Humane Society reports that she is doing well and is expected to survive and thrive.
Several people have helped the newborn kitten, but Sadie the dog’s act of kindness set the entire process in motion when she brought the kitten out of the woods with great gentleness and gave her to Jason.
A reporter visits Sadie and her family.
Good work Sadie!