A rescued kitten in the care of Alisha Sinclair after being thrown out of a car in South Auckland. Photo / Jason Oxenham.
A rescued kitten in the care of Alisha Sinclair after being thrown out of a car in South Auckland. Photo / Jason Oxenham.
A kitten has literally managed to walk away with leg injuries after it was hurled out the window of a moving car in South Auckland.
Fortunately the incident, near the Alfriston Hall on Mill Rd, was witnessed by fellow motorist who stopped and picked up the injured feline.
The member of the public then cleaned up the male kitten, believed to be about 10 weeks old, before taking him to 9 Lives Orphanage in Manurewa who care for abandoned and stray kittens and cats.
Orphanage founder Alisha Sinclair said it appeared the kitten had come from a home, as it was used to human contact.
Apart from being severely underweight and graze or burn marks to the backs of its legs, the kitten appeared to be in good health. He'd also been given a worming treatment.
"He's okay, he's very skinny, but he's very happy to be warm and have some food. But he's definitely underweight. He's got some bald patches on the back of his legs which could have been from when he was thrown from the car.
"Apart from that, he's good."
She said given his malnourishment it was hard to know his age but she estimated him to be about 10 weeks old.
Sinclair said, apart from the incidents in the past week, they hadn't had animals that had been thrown out of vehicles before.
She hoped not to have any more and urged people to hand them to animal organisations, either themselves or their local SPCA, before resorting to such horrific measures.
A rescued kitten in the care of Alisha Sinclair after being thrown out of a car in South Auckland. Photo / Jason Oxenham
"There's so many other options than the one that they took. There's so many more places that would have taken the kitten without going to such drastic measures. It's just terrible."
She praised the member of the public for not only stopping and grabbing the cat but also taking him home and giving him a bath before dropping it off.
It was sometimes hard to tell when a cat was in pain as they often internalised it or even purred, leaving it up to the owner to notice any other abnormal behaviour or marks on their body to notice to get treatment.
The kitten was left with these graze or burn marks after being thrown from a car in South Auckland on Thursday night. Photo / 9 Lives Orphanage
As for naming him, Sinclair said they'd thrown round a few ideas - with "Lucky" currently the most popular - however they would open a poll on their Facebook page for people to make other suggestions.
Sinclair said they were currently experiencing their busiest kitten and adoption season in their six-year history, with more than 100 kittens or cats currently being cared for in volunteer foster homes.
