MISSION (NEWS 1130) — A tiny kitten is lucky to be alive after being thrown onto the highway from a vehicle in Mission Friday, and the woman who rescued her says it’s not the first time this has happened.
Leilani Greene says she was driving home on the Abbotsford-Mission Highway when she saw something being flung from a black car on the overpass.
“As I got closer, because the speed limit slows down there from 80 to 60, I realized it was a kitten. I was just petrified. I couldn’t believe it,” Greene says.
“I was able to get pulled over and luckily enough the cars that were coming up behind me saw me slide out of my car and I went and scooped her up. She was in the slow lane.”
Greene took the injured kitten to the vet where she saw someone going in the back door to start their shift.
“She had quite a bit of bleeding coming from her mouth. They figured her upper jaw was fractured, she would probably require dental surgeries if there were any breaks to the teeth. They weren’t sure if there was any brain damage, or any other internal injuries,” she says.
“They said her injuries were consistent with being tossed from a vehicle.”
Greene’s friends said they would take the kitten if the money could be raised to cover the bills for the cat’s care.
A GoFundMe quickly surpassed its goal and the cat — named Natasha Fluffybottom — has a home.
“She’s less than two pounds, but she’s eating. And she’s feisty. She’s a lucky little kitten,” Greene says, adding Natasha is seven weeks old but severely small for her age.
Greene heard a litter of 10 kittens was rescued elsewhere in the city on the same day and she wants to get in touch with whoever found them so she can give contribute leftover money to their care.
Although she stayed calm in the immediate aftermath of the roadside rescue, Greene says she was shaken up by what she saw. When the vet told her this is the third time they’ve treated a cat thrown from a car, she felt sick.
“I don’t know how anyone could do that,” she says.
“I think we really need to have awareness for what’s happening out there.”
Greene thinks installing cameras on the bridge would be a way to stop others from doing something like this.