“This could have been tragic. This could have been deadly. This breaks our heart.”
Jerilee Drynan, Home At Last Operations Manager.
By chance, a maintenance worker with the Home At Last Humane Society of The Dalles, OR discovered a Mama cat and her litter of 6 week old kittens behind an outbuilding at the shelter on Monday August 6, when the temperature was 104 degrees. The kittens were all sealed in a blue Rubbermaind container with holes made in the top, and Mama sat atop them in a carrier.
Shelter operations manager Jerilee Drynan discusses the incident in a video made by the Humane Society and says the holes in the box may have enabled the kittens to breathe, but did not provide the ventilation needed for them to survive the heat for very long. Fortunately, a tragedy was averted by the animals’ chance discovery.
In an indication that someone cared about Mama and her babies, a note included with them gives all of their names and information on Mama’s vaccinations, plus mention that the kittens had not yet gotten their shots. It is difficult to know the full circumstances behind the incident. A husband, boyfriend or father may have taken away and gotten rid of a beloved pet. An irresponsible pet owner may have decided they were too much trouble. Unless someone comes forward with information, the shelter has no way of knowing.
The shelter reports that the cat and kittens appeared to have been well cared for, are healthy, and were found before they came to harm.
New report on the incident from KLTV7:
KLTV.com-Tyler, Longview, Jacksonville, Texas | ETX News
How hard would it have been just to wait for the shelter to open and walk them in?! Some people are BEYOND stupid! Thank God they are okay!
At least they left them some place safe unlike some people who would have tossed the carrier and container in a dumpster or along a lonely road somewhere.