Two kittens were found alive and healthy at a Hume recycling facility, having survived a journey inside a garbage truck after being dumped in a kerbside recycling bin.
They had survived a trip in the back of a recycling truck, where materials are compressed, after they were dumped once again in a recycling bin.
The kittens are now being cared for by Shannon Langford-Salisbury, an ACTNowaste education officer who studied animal science at university. She was was conducting a tour through the recycling facility at the time the kittens were discovered.
“They are extremely, extremely, lucky to have made it through the process,” she said.
Ms Langford-Salisbury is now fostering them in her home until they are old enough to go to new homes.
“They’re underweight but they’ll be fine. We got them vet checked. We’ve just got to feed them [from] a bottle for a few weeks and then feed them up and then at eight weeks they’ll be ready to be adopted,” she said.
“They obviously have to have special names for being able to survive something so horrific.”
Territory and Municipal Services (TAMS) said it was clear the kittens had been deliberately dumped in the bin, and might not have survived a journey in the back of a garbage truck if they weren’t so lucky.
“It is hard to believe that the two kittens have survived the journey from a kerbside recycling bin all the way to the facility in Hume as all garbage and recycling materials are compressed inside the collection vehicles,” TAMS Minister Shane Rattenbury said.
RSPCA ACT chief executive Tammy Ven Dange said the dumping of kittens was a serious problem, and some Canberrans still failed to get their pets spayed or neutered.
“There’s an easy way to fix this issue, by owners getting their pets desexed,” she said.
“Not only will this reduce the number of unwanted animals in our community, it also decreases the risk of future health issues and can help with behavioral problems with their pets, too.”