This past summer, staff at the Southeast Volusia Humane Society, in New Smyrna Beach, made a shocking discovery when they found a storage container of dying kittens sitting in the middle of the organization’s parking lot.
The storage container was dropped off outside, with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees, by the passenger and driver of a black car. Employees suspect the kittens were stuck in the boiling hot box for about an hour before finally being left on the premises.
“They were on black leather or black vinyl in that car, so that’s pulling heat down on top of them,” Karen Morgan, an employee at the organization, noted. “Those kittens were in direct sunlight. There was nothing protecting them at all.”
Staff realized the kittens needed help when one of the employees saw the lid of the box moving. “Someone was outside and they had a container in their hands,” Morgan recalled. “You could see a kitten’s head popping up from between the two flaps.”
When the nine tuxedo kittens were discovered, they were burning hot, panting, and minutes away from death due to heat exhaustion.
“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,” Morgan told The Dodo. “One of them, his little tongue was hanging out he was panting in my hands, and I thought he was going to lose consciousness.”
Employees immediately went into emergency mode, trying to save the kittens and lower their temperatures.
“We all went into emergency mode,” Morgan said. “We brought in wet towels, water. 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.”
It took a few hours— but they ultimately succeeded in saving the kittens’ lives.
The shelter was full, so once the kittens had been stabilized, they were sent to go live with foster mom Jen Wenger.
The kittens— named Ernest, Elizabeth, Jefferson, Terrence, Carlotta, Minni Jean, Gloria Ray, Thelma, and Melba after the historic Little Rock Nine—got a nice bath and a big meal during their first night at the foster home. And despite everything they’ve gone through, they still love to play and be snuggled.
“This little troupe is extremely friendly,” Wenger told The Dodo. “Most come running up to you when you go into the room. They love to cuddle.”
“We’re really grateful to everyone who’s rallied behind [the kittens],” Morgan told The Dodo. “They were really just a few minutes away from expiring, unfortunately, in a very, very excruciating and painful way.”
The nine abandoned kitties were featured on a segment of Inside Edition. You can watch the full story below.
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