LEWISTON, Maine — Four newborn kittens were found covered in fleas and maggots in a Dumpster on Friday, and the animal control officer believes they were dumped there.
All four kittens were taken to the Androscoggin Humane Society in Lewiston, where they were immediately cleaned and bottle fed. However, two of the kittens were so weak they died over the weekend.
One of the remaining kittens has since been given to Moxie, a shelter cat who gave birth to her own litter a few days ago. Moxie immediately adopted the kitten and began nursing and cleaning her. The other kitten was expected to join that litter Monday. Both kittens, their new littermates and Moxie will be placed in foster care.
Animal Control Officer Wendell Strout said someone discovered the kittens in the Dumpster and called him to report it. He declined to say where in the city the Dumpster was located, because the incident is still under investigation. He believes charges will be filed.
“These [kittens] were dumped,” he said.
Operations Manager Zachary Black said the kittens were likely a day old or less when they were found.
“Their umbilical cords were still attached to them. We had to cut them off,” Black said. “So the mom cat had probably just given birth when they were tossed.”
The two remaining kittens — a male and female — are short-hair gray tiger-tortoiseshell cats. Black said it’s saddened the staff to see the newborn kittens discarded.
“We’re here seven days a week to take pets in, so throwing them away isn’t necessary,” he said. “We don’t ask any questions as long as you’re from our Androscoggin County. We take pets in. We don’t have a fee; we just ask for a donation.”
The Greater Androscoggin Humane Society is currently caring for 250 cats, including about 100 in foster care. The shelter is at capacity for cats and kittens. It has been so inundated with the animals lately that it’s currently giving away adult cats and has cut in half its adoption fee for kittens. Adoptive families can save another $15 by donating cat or kitten food or litter.
Although it’s at capacity, the shelter does not turn away animals. It has found adoptive homes for about 2,400 animals since January.
See more from the Sun Journal at sunjournal.com.
Hearing things like this makes me sick. I hope they find who did this, and charge them with whatever they can!
i just sent this story to ‘my friend’ that is the ceo at a very-well known national media company—see if the story can get some more national attention,especially the creep who gets charged.
Agreed! The creep needs to be spayed or neutered.
How can people be so mean to the animals! I hope they find who ever did this and punish them to the fullest extent. This is just horrible!
Which is seriously like a $50 fine. I am not kidding.
you would be surprised sometimes those who commit crimes against animals have much more of a stiffer fine and sentence then a sex offender would. both are hopeless victims and one can talk while the other can’t. as unfair as it is at least it is heavy punishment for those who do this to animals because they start with animals and then start on humans.
A truly despicable and low-life action by a totally heartless person.
When did life of any type become so cheap? Back in about 1972 or 1973. Choose life…it’s a beautiful thing!
You’re right, people never did anything like this before 1972.
/sarcasm
The person who did this would have still done it if abortion weren’t federally legalized in 1972. Not to mention that there were legal abortions before then.
This isn’t ABOUT abortion. This is about a careless pet owner that made the conscious decision to put 4 newborn kittens in a dumpster.
Will you PLEASE stay on topic.
uhh….and why do they think a cat didnt just give birth in the dumpster? or in a box around the dumpster or something someone threw in?
Not likely.
stranger things have happened
it’s not likely because a dumpster is not a shelter…even a cat knows that. Most cats will find a quiet, safe place to give birth, away from people. House cats that don’t go outside will find places deep in a closet, under a bed etc…and some, like one of mine, would prefer a person to be around while giving birth. My cat (she’s long since past) got very upset when I left the room to give her some peace. She wrapped her paws around my hand, while she was giving birth.
Many people don’t bother to bond with their cat that way. Thank you for that anecdote! :)
my cat did the same thing she would come and find me when the time was right and cry till I went with her, rip mama cat I miss you
Nice try.
The best cat I ever had was born in a dumpster.
Spay and neuter your pets.
-Bob Barker
Unfortunately the only charge that will stick is illegal dumping. The guy will just say he thought they were going to die or dying.
I certainly don’t condone this and it is a terrible thing, however, humans do this to their own children everyday; it’s called partial birth abortion. Why is a human life devalued, but a kitten’s life is not?
I feel like you are reaching a bit….
I am pro life as well but partial birth abortion does go above and beyond. How anyone can look at that process and find it ok and not criminal is beyond me.
Which demographic has the highest mortality rate:
1) babies killed by partial-birth abortion
2) babies killed from neglect and abuse by parents who never should have had children
The question is which is more excusable?
Neither.
Here we go..
“Partial Birth Abortion” is a term coined by NRLC (go figure, an anti-abortion committee) and it’s not a medical term. This process of abortion named Dilation & Extraction, or D&X, was devised to allow a woman to abort in the second trimester without an overnight hospital stay.
According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, an abortion-rights research
group that conducts surveys of the nation’s abortion doctors, about
15,000 abortions were performed in the year 2000 on women 20 weeks or
more along in their pregnancies; the vast majority were between the 20th
and 24th week. Of those, only about 2,200 D&X abortions were
performed, or about 0.2 percent of the 1.3 million abortions believed to
be performed that year.
http://www.npr.org/2006/02/21/5168163/partial-birth-abortion-separating-fact-from-spin
You got that? 0.2 percent of abortions in a year are D&X or partial-birth as you’d like to call it.
There are other methods of abortion.
Abortion pill, for up to 9 weeks.
Aspiration, up to 16 weeks.
D&X, up to 24 weeks (excluding medical issues that would warrant it)
Many women don’t recognize symptoms of pregnancy or don’t get a positive test result until 7 or 8 weeks into the pregnancy. Abortions are nothing to take lightly, and unlike many conservatives, I don’t think many women take it lightly at all. It takes time to make that decision.
In my opinion, abortions after 20 weeks should only be done in medically necessary situations. That’s about halfway through the pregnancy and it’s when the baby starts to be able to sense touch. That’s just my opinion that by then it is too late and the baby would feel the pain of an abortion.
I can’t see myself getting an abortion if I were ever to have an unplanned pregnancy, but I am pro-choice. I like options. But let’s say by some statistical anomaly the condom breaks and the morning after pill is a dud too. I’d definitely have Planned Parenthood on my mind. BTW, what do you anti-choice people have against PP? Their whole goal is to end up with, uh duh, parents that planned on being in that situation. Hence the buckets of birth control they hand out.
“Why is a human life devalued, but a kitten’s life is not?”
For one thing the kittens were born already. Carried to full term, presumably. This article would have hundreds of comments if it were a newborn baby (umbilical cord still attached) in a dumpster, instead I see a few dozen.
I am currently 22 weeks pregnant; I think you may change that date a bit if you ever became pregnant, I felt my baby move at 15 weeks and saw her move and react to my voice on the screen at 16 weeks…it’s almost like only a woman who has been far enough along in pregnancy will only ever understand the extent of life that’s in her.
Yes, your baby will move and react to you around 16 weeks however the nervous system hasn’t developed for sense of touch yet. They can’t even feel their own face until around 22 weeks, where you’re at now.
http://www.babycenter.com/fetal-development-images-15-weeks
http://www.babycenter.com/fetal-development-images-21-weeks
“I think you may change that date a bit if you ever became pregnant…it’s almost like only a woman who has been far
enough along in pregnancy will only ever understand..”
Do you assume I have no children because I am pro-choice?
No, I wouldn’t ‘change that date a bit’. I stand by everything I said. 20 weeks is halfway through the pregnancy, the baby’s nervous system isn’t developed enough to feel pain let alone their face or surroundings, and that really is where I would draw the line on choosing abortion if I made the laws.
Where would you draw the line, Claire from Texas?
Find the jerk who did this!
Thanks to the person who called, the animal control officer, the Humane Society and Moxie!!!! There is hope!
Obviously, another case of irresponsible pet ownership.
Kittens are not disposable life forms. They are animals deserving of proper care and love. If you don’t want them, get your cat spay/neutered, take the litter with the mother to a shelter for adoption and better yet, if you don’t want to do the legwork to properly care for your cat, don’t have one!
To the individual who did this, wherever you are: You’re a sick, disgusting, cruel, lame excuse of a person, and you know it.
I doubt it. At least people used to drown them in a sack when they threw them away. At least that showed a glimmer of humanity.
I could not do it. But, you are correct, in the 50’s unwanted kittens were put in crocker sacks with a rock in the bag, it was tied and thrown in the ocean. I am not saying it is right, no, but, as a kid I witnessed it, and it was considered humane in that era.
How can someone do this to their own cat? The mother cat must be beside herself missing her kittens.
if she is still living, yes
My cat just had three live babies, and one still born. She is still looking for this little one in the last place it was before I had her say her goodbyes. This momma cat must be so depressed. :c
This should NOT happen when fixing a female cat only costs $45 at many places…
This is disgusting!!! What is wrong with people!
People who are cruel to animals can just as easily be cruel to people. Serial killers start out on animals. This is just mean, in spirit and in dead.
I am going to play devil’s advocate for just a minute. While it is very likely that the kittens were indeed tossed into the bin, unless they were in a bag or in some other way contained, it could be that the mama cat actually had the babies in the bin, or brought them there shortly after they were born. I am not saying this is probable, just that it could happen. I have seen feral cats birth/move their babies into some pretty strange places.
I once went out to my burn barrel to deposit some trash and found five newborn kittens. As my property is fenced and we have dogs, I know that no other person put them there. BTW, we waited and watched for mama to come back. She returned in a few minutes and moved the kittens to the barn where they grew into nice healthy, rowdy babies that we found homes for. And mama got spayed as soon as was possible.
Kudos to the shelter for doing what they can. Please spay and neuter your pets and donate to your local shelter. Every penny counts in this economy as shelters are stretched to the breaking point by pets abandoned by owners who can no longer care for them and as always, the people who just don’t care.
Any security cameras in that area?It would be great to know who did this…
There are some cruel, heartless human beings lacking basic feelings. No soul & walking amongst us & that is frightening.
Sentence them to live in a medical waste dumpster
Just what I was thinking, chain them to the dumpster right out where everyone can see them, I’d give them a bottle of water a day, they get hungry, well they should be able to find something in the dumpster.
Whoever did this is a shmuck…that being said, they can legally charge someone for abandoning kittens but Almy can’t charge the people who knew Carlson was abusing kids and never reported it…..???? BRILLIANT.
I don’t think “shmuck” quite covers this. People who abuse animals and have zero regard for whether the animals live or die deserve a very bad fate in my mind. I would love 10 minutes with the person who did this.
Animals give unconditional love, yet our laws governing their safety are disgraceful.
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”. Mahatma Gandhi
I don’t disagree with anything you have stated. My point being that I find it odd that we have laws that can penalize people who are less than decent or abusive to animals but we have apparently no such laws that penalize people who know that someone is being abusive or less than decent to a child. One would think if we could put in place laws that protect a kitten we could probably figure out how to put a laws in place to hold people responsible for knowing about abuse and doing nothing about it.
The man was old and sick but he had family so why did his home get so bad, why didn’t his daughter go there and clean and help him???? Oh yes I know, she had her own life to lead,, but she could waste an hour a day helping her father!! Shame on her!!
I adopted a cat in March whose previous owners had moved out and left him behind in an empty apartment. The cat is a sweet cat, and very well behaved. He certainly didn’t deserve to be abandoned.
It will probably be difficult to find the people who did this, but I hope they do. It’s disgusting.
First our animals than comes the people. Punishment needs to be severe and long lasting and it needs to involve, animals.
Great to have some publicity on the topic, but if anyone reading this is surprised or shocked then you’ve been living a sheltered life. This happens all the time in Maine, especially in areas like the County where animal control officers don’t really do anything to help with cat-related issues (and might even throw kittens in a dumpster themselves) and shelters are few and far between.
And yes, as disgusting as it is in this day and age, some people will still drown bags full of kittens rather than shell out a few bucks to spay their cat. The state has made some improvements in the past year, but where authority still lies with the townships there is a lot of neglect and abuse still going on.
This is so sad. :c My cat just had three babies and I worked hard to save one of them. I can’t imagine tossing them out! I already have ALL of them booked for future appointments to be fixed. I feel bad enough momma escaped the week she was due to be fixed the first time! People make me sick. :/