To the editor;
This has been an unusually busy week for Halfway Home Pet Rescue, and unfortunately a very unhappy week as kittens have been discovered abandoned on some country roads.
Please understand: Entire litters of 4- to 6-week-old kittens have actually been left to be coyote food or to die of starvation, exposure and fright.
In this day and age, there are many options for an owner who does not want to bother with cleaning up after or feeding five or six kittens. (1) Take your female and male cats to the free or low-cost spay/neuter clinics held in Fort Kent, Caribou and Houlton.
In addition, if you feel you don’t want to take the time to have your pets sterilized, then you can at least take the kittens to one of the local shelters or pet rescues. There is absolutely no need for you to drop these babies off on the side of a country road to be run over, starved, or eaten by other wildlife.
This week HHPR spent volunteer hours searching desperately for the remaining kittens of these litters after having found one or two. The hours could have been spent caring for them at the pet rescue instead. Why be so cruel? Why not be responsible and use the free spay clinic or request help from the shelters or rescues? In this past month HHPR has sponsored the spay/neuter of 248 County cats. Two of these adult cats could have been the mommas of the lost and abandoned babies.
Kitten 1 was obviously tossed out after being in a home, because he is so desperately needy for the comforting touch of a human and runs beside people constantly trying to climb up their legs. This baby is not yet 6 weeks old but now needs medical attention for fleas, worms, cold and an eye infection. Kitten 2 was abandoned with its siblings until it learned that humans can and sometimes will hurt him. He is only about 4 1/2 weeks old, and although it will only take a short time to teach him to trust humans, it will take longer to treat his fleas, worms and a serious eye infection.
Search and rescue is a time-consuming, heartbreaking part of rescue work. It is also totally unnecessary with all the other options available. Please be responsible. Sterilize your cats or turn them in at a shelter/rescue. Why leave them to suffer and die in a ditch?
Norma Milton
President, Halfway Home Pet Rescue
Caribou
