DOWNTOWN PHOENIX — A kitten abandoned in a trash bag on the side of the road has found its forever home.
Michael Morefield, Director of Marketing and Communications at the Arizona Animal Welfare League, says while driving in downtown Phoenix, he heard something crying for help while sitting at a stop sign with the window rolled down.
"I just put my car in park and walked across the street," Morefield said. "I saw this trash bag and the trash bag had been tied shut in the sun and I heard these screams coming out of it."
He says inside the bag was a metal pot holding five kittens. Only one was alive.
"He still had his umbilical cord," Morefield said. "He was a day old. It was a very scary moment. He was screaming. So I got in my car, I drove right back to the shelter and I said, 'I don't know if he's going to make it.'"
Morefield says he learned to bottle feed him and did so for weeks on end. He says that act alone has a low survival rate.
"Sometimes less than 50 percent," he said.
But the kitten got bigger and stronger. He's now affectionately named Jackie.
Shelter officials say "Jackie" was adopted by a woman who recently moved from New York and when she was a child she found a kitten in a trash can. Her family kept and took care of that cat. She read the article about Jackie and came to see him and fell in love with his story and him and came back the next day to adopt him. She had animals in New York that couldn’t make the cross-country trip with her and she missed having an animal and Jackie was the perfect fit for her.
As for who left that bag on the side of the road, Morefield says they'll probably never know. But he'd like to remind pet owners that there are resources out there if you need help.
"Abandonment is never the option," Morefield said. "We are here to help you. We are stretched to our limits like everyone, but that doesn't mean that we're not going to fight so you can be a responsible foster and have the resources you need to fight for those animals."
For more information about adopting an animal from the Arizona Animal Welfare League click here.
