Photo via Bosque Animal Clinic at Facebook
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Animal lovers were saddened and angered this past week upon learning about a kitten named Sam who was thrown at a brick wall from a moving truck in Los Lunas, New Mexico.
A Good Samaritan witnessed the incident and took the kitten, who suffered a bloody nose, head trauma and a broken left elbow, to her vet.
“Sam was brought in to the clinic by clients of ours. They had witnessed Sam being thrown out of a moving vehicle,” Samantha McKinney, an owner of Bosque Animal Clinic, told KROE TV News, continuing, “[Sam was thrown by] Somebody who has absolutely no concern or care for the living creatures.”
The clinic posted at Facebook on Wednesday, saying, “Dr McKinney is helping a throwaway kitten that until now has had a rough start. Under other circumstances this kitten would probably have been euthanized due to the cruelty inflicted on it! She just couldn’t put this baby down!”
Ms. McKinney gave her assessment of Sam’s injury to KROE for their initial report, saying, “In my opinion, elbow fractures probably one of the worst types of fractures you can get. They’re very painful because of his age and cost in the factor, it’s been decided to amputate.”
Since his story made the news, the clinic has received many offers to adopt Sam, as well as donations to help pay for his medical care. The clinic will allow Sam a couple of weeks recovery time before selecting an adopter to give him a good home. The clinic says if donations exceed the cost of Sam’s care they will be placed in a pay-it-forward Good Samaritan fund.
“He will be a three-legged ball of feisty kitten [following his amputation surgery],” Ms. McKinney said.
Sam had his damaged leg amputated Friday morning and is doing well in his recovery. The clinic is watching for possible problems with his vision as a result of the head trauma.
The Alliance against Animal Abuse is offering a $500 reward to catch the person responsible, and anyone with information is asked to contact Los Lunas police. By Friday, the police said the incident had not been reported to them, when contacted by KROE.
Bosque Animal Clinic commented on Sam’s case and the attention it has brought to their practice in a post at Facebook, saying: “The sad truth of the matter is we see sad cases like this on a weekly, sometimes daily basis. We don’t fight for these critters for the attention (which in all honesty is quite overwhelming) we fight for these critters because somebody has too! We work with multiple rescue groups routinely that fight this battle as well. ”
The clinic says there will be an announcement at Facebook when Sam is made available for adoption.
Watch the update on Sam following his successful amputation surgery:
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Here is an earlier report on the story, filed on Wednesday, July 30 after Sam was thrown at the wall from the moving vehicle:
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What a monster……any cameras around to capture the tag number? Get well soon sweet baby kitty!!!!