Three kittens rescued a month ago after a St. Petersburg, FL man put them into zip lock bags and placed them in the freezer were adopted yesterday from the SPCA of Tampa Bay.
Pinellas County deputies arrested Rodney J. Blanchard, 39, at his trailer park home on December 2 after they found four kittens in a freezer. The kittens owe their lives to Good Samaritan Eve Mulder, who fled the trailer and contacted authorities after she heard their cries, opened the freezer and saw the four distressed kittens in zip lock plastic sandwich bags when Blanchard asked her to get him a beer. Deputies rescued the kittens and rushed them to an emergency vet clinic. Three of the kittens survived; the fourth succumbed to the cold. The remaining three bounced back and made an excellent recovery while in care at the SPCA of Tampa Bay.
For more details on the incident, see our story of December 4, Kittens Recovering After Rescue From Freezer: Man Arrested.
Eight local families applied to adopt the kittens, and underwent a rigorous adoption process that included through screenings and checks with their veterinarians. Three adopters were selected, and were allowed to take their kittens home on Friday. The kittens were 6 weeks old at the time of their rescue, and are about 10 weeks old now.
Melissa Hunsinger e-mailed the SPCA offering to adopt when the kittens’ story first made news. She and her family adopted Napoleon. Melissa told the St. Pete Patch, “I felt really bad for the kittens. I wanted them to go to a good home.” Her 9 year old son Nason is eager to welcome Napoleon into his family’s St. Petersburg home and help give him a good life.
The Edwards Family of Dunedin adopted Sunkist, renamed Frosty. Wanda said, “It was like my heart was broken when I learned about the kittens. I was devastated. When I look into his eyes, I think how could anyone do this.” Wanda’s grandchildren Sybil and Grace will share being Frosty’s little caregivers. Sybil’s only request of Santa was to have a cat.
Andrew Parks of Tampa adopted Clementine. (Not shown.)
I hate to think what I would have done had I saw those precious angels in the freezer! I HATE animal abusers. Animals are helpless, defenseless. And these were tiny kittens! Robert Blanchard is a BASTID! God saw what he did & will have final judgement! SO glad these babies were rescued & now have homes!