NAPIER, NEW ZEALAND - A man who lives in Napier is not looking to be hailed as a hero for a good deed he did — rescuing two abandoned kittens before they were processed with the cardboard boxes. They would have simply … been crushed.
Matt Gittings, a waste management worker had just emptied the bin by turning it upside down with a forklift and that is when he heard the piercing cries of these poor furbabies.
The 26-year-old admitted there are a number of stray cats which hang around the depot and he just assumed the four-legged friends belonged to one of them.
“I walked over and said ‘g’day’, then I just left them, expecting they’d find their mum.”
But neither kitten seemed interested in trying to locate their mom and instead they continued to cry out.
Mr Gittings decided to take the kitties to the Napier SPCA where they will now wait for a new home.
This man’s actions and good deed were met with widespread approval after the SPCA posted a photo of “Wilbur” and “Orville” on Facebook.
Bruce Wills, SPCA Hawke’s Bay manager, said the circumstances of the abandonment are “bizarre”.
Someone had willfully put the kittens inside a box and then pushed the box into a tip full of discarded cardboard at the depot.
Both kittens were starving and infested with fleas.
Mr Wills said the once timid furry friends were already starting to purr very contentedly when patted.
“They need a fair bit of TLC before we can allow them to be adopted out,” he said.
“They obviously didn’t have the best start at life at all.”
The pair is almost at a weight at which adoption would be allowed,.
There are currently around 50 temporary foster homes but all of them are filled to capacity.
The SPCA urges people willing to provide assistance to get in touch.
Whoever dumped these cats didn’t want them to be found.
For more info: SPCA Napier & Hawkes Bay