Animal rescue stories

A young cat left in a zipped up sports bag in a suburban park and five kittens dumped outside the RSPCA South Australia’s Lonsdale shelter are recovering from their ordeals.

RSPCA South Australia Inspector Cheryl Doudle described the weekend dumpings as cruel, deeply concerning and unnecessary, and said it was just luck that the animals were found in time.

“It is totally acceptable to recognise that you are not able to care for an animal, but it is never acceptable to then treat that animal like garbage and dump them,” Inspector Doudle said.

Campbelltown residents found the young, undesexed male tabby cat late Sunday afternoon after hearing his distressed cries. He was zipped inside a Port Power sports bag and left on the ground in a small park on Atkell Avenue.

An RSPCA South Australia Inspector took the cold, wet and frightened animal into care. He appears to be about a year old and has no identification on him.

In the second incident, at 8.15am on Saturday an RSPCA South Australia staff member arriving at work discovered five male kittens around six weeks of age inside a laundry basket just outside the Lonsdale shelter’s front gate.

The kittens were cold and wet, with the blanket left inside the basket with them also wet.

“Unfortunately, the dumping of kittens outside the shelter gates is not uncommon,” Inspector Doudle said.

“We’ve had at least five cases this year, but many more boxes have been found in the mornings with holes from whatever was inside escaping.”

Aside from mild cases of conjunctivitis and cat flu, the kittens are all in good health. When they fully recover they will go into foster care until they are old enough to be adopted.

“There was a hailstorm warning in the Lonsdale area on Saturday, yet someone decided to leave these five vulnerable babies with nothing effective to protect them from the elements and no guarantee they would be rescued in time,” Inspector Doudle said.

“The humane decision would have been to take the animals to an animal shelter during opening hours.

“We do not judge people who surrender their animals to our care because we understand that this is often unavoidable, as people’s circumstances change.

“We urge people show compassion and never dump an animal, but rather give the animal to someone who has the knowledge and capacity to take good care of them.”

Under SA’s Animal Welfare Act, it is illegal to abandon an animal.

The dumpings coincided with the launch of a new End of Feline-nancial Year cat adoption campaign. Up to June 30, the Society is offering a 40% discount on adult cat adoption fees.

This discount brings the fee down to a very affordable $30. (Kitten adoption fees remain at $150, with 36 kittens currently available for adoption.)

All RSPCA South Australia cats and kittens are vet-checked, vaccinated, microchipped and desexed and can be viewed online at www.rspcasa.org.au/adopt/cats.