Three-week-old kittens have been rescued from ‘certain death’ after their mum was hit by a car.
The tiny kittens were rescued from under a bush by a quick-thinking passer-by after their nursing mum was killed on Stow Road in Wisbech.
The man saved four tabby kittens from “almost certain death” and bundled them into a cardboard box, before Cats Protection mobilised staff from two of its Norfolk adoption centres to help.
A spokesman said: “At around three weeks old, the little mites were not strong enough to fend for themselves and would have struggled to survive if they had not been found so quickly and rushed into the expert care of Cats Protection.”
The rescue started on the morning of Saturday, May 9, after the man appealed for help at the Cats Protection Downham Market Adoption Centre.
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Lindsay Tempest, centre manager, said: “He rushed down our drive and said that he had a number of feral cats in his garden in Outwell.
“Sadly, one of them, the kittens’ mum, had been found dead in Stow Road that morning. He had seen her moving some kittens under a bush a few days before and he was desperate for our help.
“We told him to bring the kittens straight to us and within a very short time he returned with four tiny kittens in a cardboard box.
“Amazingly, they were clean, warm and a good weight. They’d obviously had their breakfast with mum just before she tragically ventured onto the road, so they had a fighting chance.”
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The charity have said the age of the kittens has presented problems for them during this time as they have to be hand-reared.
The centre manager said: “Normally this would not be an issue but we are working on a skeleton staff during lockdown and didn’t have anyone here to help.
“Thankfully, our neighbouring Dereham Adoption Centre arranged to take them in and just a few hours later they were safely snuggled up, receiving around the clock care from one of their team.”
The kittens will remain in the charity’s care until the lockdown restrictions are lifted and they are well enough to find new homes.
Cats Protection is currently only accepting emergency cases.
READ MORE: Norfolk couple rescue ducklings from drains
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