Black cats are often (unfairly) thought of to be bad luck for those it encounters, but in this case, it was a poor black cat who got itself in what could have been a horrible predicament. A young black kitten was indeed quite lucky when she was discovered by Caltrans workers in the median of a very busy freeway in San Clemente this last Wednesday. The two-pound kitty was quite the lucky one after somehow ending up on the 5 Freeway during rush-hour traffic. Caltrans found the feline under a piece of wood when the crew arrived to clean up ended up saving the kitten.
“What they had told me was they had moved it initially. Were nervous that the kitten would escape so they placed the wood back in place and then were able to capture the kitten,” said Kim Cholodenko, who is the San Clemente-Dana Point Animal Shelter manager.
According to Cholodenko, the 8-week-old kitten had been dropped off in a bag at the shelter, where the shelter workers ended up naming the feline “Pumpkin.” Nothing much is really known about how the cat ended up on the busy freeway, but the staff has speculated on just how she ended up there as well as how she managed to survive on her own given the circumstances.
“Possibly, a carrier happened to drop onto the freeway into the center median and possibly the kitten or family, mother and kittens, escaped from there. There’s so many possibilities. Could it have run across the freeway when it was slower? Unlikely but who knows,” Cholodenko said.
Now that she is back on safe ground, Pumpkin will be seeing a veterinarian to get her necessary vaccines as well as be spayed over the next few days. It is estimated that the rescued kitten will soon be available for adoption as soon as next Tuesday.
(Photo Source: CBS2)
