Pets left for dead in cardboard box

KITTEN in care of the RSPCA

Narrow escape for cat family

A FAMILY of cats is lucky to be alive after being sealed inside a cardboard box and left for dead.

The male and female adults were squashed into the box along with four kittens and put into a pram which was left in the snow outside the RSPCA’s Rhodes Bank Centre.

Branch manager Mandy Tierney said: “These cats could have died.

“They had been crammed into a box that was nowhere near big enough for them all and it was so heavily-taped up that they would have suffocated if they had not been found when they were. They were very lucky indeed.”

The lucky six have been fed, watered and checked over and are now being cared for at the centre.

The ginger male cat has been named Jack by staff, while the tortoiseshell female has been called Jill. Both are between two and three years old. The kittens — a male called Tom and three females called Sarah, Belle and Cinders — are six weeks old.

Mandy added: “It’s always shocking when someone does something like this. There’s no excuse for it.

“Maybe whoever did this thought that leaving them on our doorstep was the best thing they could do for them but we could have found six dead bodies in there.

“This is the second lucky escape we’ve had in as many weeks.

“Another taped-up box containing a mother cat and her three kittens was nearly taken away by the bin-men just before Christmas. This family of cats could have died because of their owner’s actions.”

All pet owners have a legal responsibility to meet the needs of the animals in their care and failing to do so is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act.

The maximum sentence is six months in prison and/or a £20,000 fine.

Anyone who knows anything about who the cats belong to should call the RSPCA cruelty and advice line on 0300-1234 999. Calls are in confidence.