By Ryan Osborne
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
KELLER, Texas — The two kittens, barely a month old, were zipped in a large purse and placed in a storm drain near a sidewalk.
Keller firefighters rescued the kittens Tuesday after being alerted by a dog walker.
“When it was handed to me and they said one was in there, I was afraid to look,” said Debra Crafton, the Keller fire marshal and the department’s “resident cat lady.”
Inside, Crafton found the kittens dirty and frail, but alive.
“The little tabby was meowing,” Crafton said. “The little black and white one didn’t have a whole lot to say.”
The kittens were found by a dog walker just south of Rapp Road near the Willis Coves neighborhood.
Firefighter Jordan Sieger, a rookie working his second shift with the department, pulled the purse from the drain.
After the rescue, the kittens were sent to a veterinary clinic, where they checked out healthy, Crafton said. A Keller 911 dispatcher agreed to adopt them after they spend a week at a foster home.
Keller firefighters have rescued cats from storm drains before, Crafton said, including two weeks ago and one on Wednesday. But most of the time, rescues involve adult cats who get themselves stuck.
“This is a little bit different,” Crafton said. “Somebody intentionally threw them in that storm drain.”
One of the kittens is a female tabby with brown and white fur. She had a sticky substance on her paws but was otherwise fine, Crafton said. The other kitten, with black and white fur, is more timid.
Both kittens have been force fed since they likely hadn’t eaten solid food yet, Crafton said.
“The little black and white one seems to be the most traumatized by the whole ordeal,” Crafton said. “It’s still a little timid and gives these little quiet hisses. The tabby seems to be happy and loving.”
Keller police are investigating who put the kittens in the drain. A person could face a charge of abandonment of an animal, a Class A misdemeanor, said city spokeswoman Rachel Reynolds.
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