A total of 17 tiny kittens were found inside a cardboard box abandoned outside a Killybegs butchers shop this morning, Wednesday, May 18.
The local postwoman came upon the box during her morning delivery rounds and upon opening it, was astonished to discover that it was filled with kittens of only 2-4 weeks old, ten of whom are sick with serious eye infections.
A Gardai investigation has revealed that a man was captured on the butcher shop’s CCTV as he arrived on foot and dumped the box outside the shop at 5am. Consequently, the tiny sick kittens were left in the cold and rain for hours before they were found.
The kittens are now all in the care of Animals In Need where they will receive treatment for their eye infections and any other ailments they may have. The youngest kittens will also need to be bottle-fed special kitten milk formula as they should still be with their mothers.
A shocked Animals In Need spokesperson said ‘This is a heartless thing to do. All these kittens should still be being nursed by their mothers and to take them away and leave them out all night in the cold was very dangerous for the kittens, they are lucky to be alive.’
She continued ‘These kittens must have come from 4 or 5 mothers so our concern now is where are the mothers and are they going to be having more babies in a month that will end up the same way?’
Animals In Need appealed to the man who left the box of kittens to get in touch with them on the helpline on 087 7644420 or at least to have the mother cats neutered, stating that there is financial help available if the cats are stray or feral. Animals In Need have humane traps to catch the cats for neutering if needed and volunteers are always available to give advice and to offer help so that this type of dumping does not happen.
The Animals In Need spokesperson added ‘We would like to thank the postwoman who found the kittens and her colleague who helped her to gather them up and take them to an Animals In Need fosterer in the Killybegs area and also thanks to the Gardai for their swift response and assistance.’
Animals In Need are urgently appealing for help towards the huge expenses they now face with the sudden arrival of so many unweaned and sick kittens. If you can help towards their care, please donate €2 to AIN’s ‘Help Us To Help Them’ fundraising appeal via your phone by texting the word ‘KITTEN’ to 50300.
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