Boxful of Kittens Dumped by Roadside All Rescued by Alert Driver

PETA Seeks Mother Cat and Homes

For Immediate Release:
June 11, 2013

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Drewryville, Va. — Recently, a woman driving in rural Southampton County noticed a large cardboard box lying next to the road. Inside, she discovered 10 tiny kittens. She adopted one of them, but after the local animal control agency said that it didn’t take in cats, she called PETA, which rushed to the scene and brought the remaining kittens back to PETA’s Norfolk headquarters, where they received veterinary examinations and lots of tender loving care. PETA plans to spay and neuter them when they are old enough, in just a few weeks. Eight of the kittens have now been adopted into loving homes, and two are still up for adoption. (See photos here.)

PETA has posted a sign on the road where the box was found, hoping that someone will call and get the mother spayed to prevent the birth of another unwanted litter. The sign reads: “Abandoned Kittens Rescued. Let Us Spay Mom for Free! 757-962-8370. PETA.”

“This story had a happy ending, but so many unwanted cats and dogs have to be euthanized or are abandoned to die only because the adult cats weren’t ‘fixed,’” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “If you can take a cat or dog into your home, PETA asks that you always adopt and never buy, because wonderful animals are waiting for you at your local animal shelter.”

Virginia animal shelters took in more than 90,000 cats in 2012. Approximately 30,000 were adopted, but more than 40,000 were euthanized. This is the time of year when cats breed most prolifically, lasting through the summer. Since 2001, PETA has sterilized more than 93,000 animals, preventing the births of many times that number and saving them from winding up on the streets or in shelters, which are already bursting at the seams with homeless and unwanted cats.

PETA can help! To make an appointment for spaying or neutering, members of the public are encouraged to call PETA at 757-622-PETA (7382), option 3. For the month of June, PETA has slashed its normally low price of $45 to just $25 for a spay or neuter surgery.

For more information, please visit PETA.org/SpayNeuter.