Last month, when a volunteer arrived for her early morning shift at BC SPCA, she found something unexpected outside the front gate. Sitting on the dirt road in front of the center, there was a small grocery basket.
“She saw a basket there, and immediately
had to look into it,” Angela Mather, BC SPCA’s center manager, told The Dodo.
The basket was covered with some kind of animal cage and fully sealed with duct tape. As the volunteer carefully peered inside, she saw tiny kitten faces staring back at her.
“[T]he kittens, they were pressed down,” Mather said. “So it was constricting their movements.”
The volunteer counted four kittens inside the basket. Because there were so many babies in such a small space, they were all squished together.
As soon as the volunteer brought the kittens inside, the BC SPCA staff and volunteers conducted a thorough examination of all four of them. Luckily, despite everything they’d been through, the kittens appeared to be healthy and strong.
“They’ve most likely been indoor pets that have been with their mom,” Mather said.
Even though it’s always preferable to call a shelter rather than leave animals outside their doors, everyone at BC SPCA is just relieved that the kittens ended up somewhere safe. Still, it’s important to note that BC SPCA and many other similar organizations often have resources that they can help provide so that pet owners don’t get to that desperate point.
“We’re glad that they brought these kittens to somewhere that they would be looked after,” Mather said.
The BC SPCA team decided to give all of the kittens gate-themed names, since they were found right outside the rescue’s front gate. So their names are Hatch, Portal, Wicket and Lattice.
Based on the kittens’ weight and size, the BC SPCA team estimated that they were about 9 weeks old. Since they’d already passed the 8-week threshold, they were already weaned, which meant they would be ready to be welcomed into a home right away.
All four of the kittens are now in foster-to-adopt homes. They’re settling into their new routines, which consist of two very important activities:
“They play, they nap, and repeat and repeat and repeat,” Mather said.
Thanks to everyone at BC SPCA, these babies have all been given second chances.
“They’re healthy, playful, lovely kittens,” Mather said.
