METAIRIE, La. – Someone threw two kittens from a moving vehicle during busy rush hour traffic on Clearview on Thursday, according to the Humane Society of Louisiana.
The organization heard of the incident from Metairie resident Alyne Pustanio. Pustanio said she was returning home from work Thursday when a car swerved unexpectedly in front of her. She said she noticed drivers swerving to miss three grey Wal-Mart bags.
“To my shock and horror there were two tiny grey kittens in the middle of the street,” Pustanio told the Humane Society. “When I had laid eyes on them, and thought they were bags, I actually saw them hit the ground in the middle lane.”
Pustanio said she pulled into a turning lane, rescued the kittens and then treated them for minor injuries after returning home.
"The criminal activity of throwing kittens into moving traffic obviously has not abated,” said Jeff Dorson, executive director of the Humane Society. He said this is the third or fourth time this has happened in as many months.
“Our continued hope is that a perpetrator will finally be caught and prosecuted, so that we can get some relief from these types of crimes,” Dorson said. “But until then we are asking drivers and passengers to have their cell phones ready or carry with them a piece of paper and pen to jot down the license plate of any vehicle that is involved in this type of vicious crime.”
Call 1 (888) 6 HUMANE to get in touch with the Humane Society.
Below is the full statement Pustanio gave the Humane Society in an e-mail:
"Traffic on Vets was bad, but it loosened up on Clearview and we were going at a pretty good clip when all of a sudden people in front of me were slamming on brakes and swerving. I was in the middle lane and noticed the drivers of the other cars were trying to avoid something in the street; from what I could see it looked like a couple of grey Wal Mart bags. Until I got closer, that is.
"To my shock and horror there were two tiny grey kittens in the middle of the street!!! Myself and the driver beside me barely had time to react to avoid churning them under our wheels. When I had laid eyes on them, and thought they were bags, I actually saw them hit the ground in the middle lane. They tried to go together toward the neutral ground but then split up. One made it to the neutral ground. The other took a frightening leap and barely made it onto the sidewalk.
"Despite rush hour traffic and speeding cars, I pulled my car into a turning lane and immediately jumped out. I found the first kitten literally plastered to the dirt on the neutral ground; I thought it was dead. But to my surprise it was alive and was simply so frightened that it could do nothing but cling to the grass and shake.
"I picked it up and brought it to the car where my friend wrapped it in an old sweater I happened to have inside. She then told me that the other kitten appeared to have made it to the steps of an apartment complex and sure enough, when I ran over there, it was cowering in the corner of the steps, a grey, shivering ball. I could see that it's jawline was red and feared the worst, but when I was finally able to coax it into allowing me to pick it up, I noted that the injury looked worse than it was. Evidently, when it had impacted the street it must have gotten a brush burn, and also a pretty bad black eye.
"When I got back in the car and assessed what had happened I realized that I must have been literally one or two cars BEHIND the monster who had tossed these poor kittens into the street. They appeared as if out of nowhere in the middle lane of this major road - there is no doubt in my mind that were I a couple of cars closer I might have actually seen the dump - and I realize, too, were I a couple of cars behind, I might have witnessed a horrible aftermath because further along, after I had taken the Harahan exit off of Clearview near Elmwood, I saw another lone grey kitten laying dead on the side of the road there.
"Thankfully, the Lord put me in exactly the right place at the right time to save the lives of these poor kittens. Tonight my daughter and I bathed and fed them, inspected them for injuries (miraculously only the one with the brush burned jaw was hurt and then not badly - all limbs are working and there doesn't seem to be any internal injuries) - and they are resting comfortably in a warm kitty carrier - the main attraction for my two curious dogs and four other cats. I shudder to think what would have happened had I not been placed there."
