On an extremely hot and sunny day, two people dumped a crate outside of theSoutheast Volusia Humane Society in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.The temperature inside the box was increasing by the second, sitting directly under the blazing sun.
Source: Southeast Volusia Humane Society
To the horror of Karen Morgan from the nearby shelter, who saw the two people dump the box, it was full of tiny kittens. She recounts:
I looked up and saw this kitten peek his head up from between the two flaps of the tote, and for some reason, they were trying to push the kitten back in. A staff member and myself ran outside quickly. I grabbed the tote from them, and came in and opened it.
Source: Southeast Volusia Humane Society
Inside, they found nine little felines who were all suffering tremendously from the heat. The box had no ventilation and the car that they had been transported in was no cooler. Karen continues:
They were on black leather or black vinyl in that car, so that’s pulling heat down on top of them. Those kittens were in direct sunlight. There was nothing protecting them at all. If you’ve ever left a Coke can in the front seat of your car in the hot sun, and you came back a few hours later and feel how hot it is — those little kittens felt like that when we touched them. One of them, his little tongue was hanging out and he was panting in my hands, and I thought he was going to lose consciousness.
To avoid the baby animals going into shock, their temperatures were lowered gradually:
We brought in wet towels, water and milk — anything they might be interested in to get some fluids back into them. Our concern was getting their body temperatures to come down, and we wanted to make sure it came down properly and slowly so it didn’t give them shock.
Source: Southeast Volusia Humane Society
Fortunately, their conditions stabilized, and the kittens had made it through the worst. As the shelter was already full, Karen entrusted the nine babies to Jan Wenger who explains:
I brought them into my home last night when they were scared and dirty, so our first plan of action was to give them a nice bath. I got them cleaned up, fed them and got them ready for bed. This little troupe is extremely friendly. Most come running up to you when you go into the room. They love to cuddle.
Jan even renamed the little animals Ernest, Elizabeth, Jefferson, Terrence,Carlotta, MinniJean, Gloria Ray, Thelma et Melba in honor of the Little Rock Nine, nine African American students from Arkansas who, in 1957, were stopped from attending school by their local government and fought for equal rights.Karen Morgan, director of the shelter concludes:
We’re really grateful to everyone who’s rallied behind them, because they were really just a few minutes away from expiring, unfortunately, in a very, very excruciating and painful way. It really does take a village.
Source: Southeast Volusia Humane Society
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