What do you do when you notice an abandoned animal on the road?
You’re walking down the street, running around the neighborhood, or driving to work when you notice a thing of fluff looking your way, wondering whether you’re going to hurt her.
You try to come closer but the thing runs away. You try to see whether there’s something you can do, but you’re pretty sure your hands are tied. You want to catch whatever that furry friend might have been, but you don’t know how.
Catching a stray cat can be a tough task because you don’t know whether she’s aggressive, suffering from some sort of disease, or scared enough to attack you the moment you approach her.
Stray cats are typically cats that have been abandoned. Hence, they’re scared because they’ve been hurt, unable to trust humans because they’ve been betrayed, and unsure of what’s going to happen to them because they’ve been roaming the streets for ages without anyone wanting to help them.
More often than not, though, you can get stray cats to trust you when you show them you want nothing more than to take them to a good home and care for them. When you spot a stray cat on the road, find a safe way to catch her and get her the help she needs.
Start by figuring out whether she’s a stray or a feral cat – stray cats are abandoned by humans, struggling to fend for themselves, and used to living indoors, but feral cats are the opposite. Feral cats are independent, uninterested in humans, and used to living on the streets.
When you’re sure you’re dealing with an abandoned cat, proceed to tempt her with food and try to get her out of hiding. When possible, try to feed her for a few days before you snatch her and take her to a rescue shelter or an animal emergency center.
A cat carrier would be perfect for catching a scared cat, but you can resort to a cardboard box, a blanket, or pretty much anything that can keep you safe while you’re on your way to the rescue. Additionally, you can always rely on policemen, firemen, and people who know what to do when they encounter a stray on the road.
And, we’re bringing you a story that highlights that exact situation. Meet Maioro, the smallest ginger and white kitten saved by Auckland City District Police, New Zealand. What happened?
The trouble ensued when the Auckland City District Police received a phone call that a thing of fluff was wreaking havoc and trying its hardest to cause accidents on the Southwestern Motorway.
When the police arrived at the scene, the officers found the cause of the disruption – the fluff was a small ginger and white kitten trying to run away from people, hiding under a concrete barrier. When the kitten noticed the police, she wasn’t happy.
One of the police officers tried to approach her, but she got spooked and decided to storm off across three lanes of live traffic. Oh, everybody at the site gasped because she was seconds away from getting hit by a car.
She was OK, but she was trapped on a small strip in the center of the freeway and the officers needed to figure something out ASAP. She didn’t want to move, but the officers couldn’t bank on the fact that she wouldn’t get spooked once again and decide to run toward the ongoing traffic.
She needed to be rescued, and the officers made a collective decision to temporarily close the entire highway down to ensure she wasn’t going to get hurt. She was stuck on the highway for over an hour and a half before the officers managed to trick her, catch her, and bring her into the patrol car.
But, she was a force to be reckoned with and she wasn’t done with her shenanigans. When the officer stepped away for a minute to make a phone call, she decided to pull a prank. When he returned, he noticed she was nowhere to be found and he freaked out.
He searched high and low but she wasn’t anywhere near – or, that’s what he thought. He heard the tiniest, faintest meow coming from the dashboard and he couldn’t fathom what had happened. She was stuck inside the dashboard. He went to the nearest mechanic and rescued her for the second time that day.
When the mechanic removed the dashboard, he found her hiding under the heating fan.
Shelley Nahr, the media coordinator for the department, took to Facebook to assure everyone that Maioro was recovering from her adventures and searching for a forever home. Auckland City District Police decided to name her Maioro after the closest motorway off-ramp from which she was rescued.
However, that’s not where the story ends. Maioro was certainly born under a lucky star because she was adopted a day or two after the news of her adventures reached the public. Maioro was adopted by a woman named Glenda – who was a dispatcher that took the 911 call that lead to Maioro’s rescue.
Glenda thought that Maioro would be more than happy with her three daughters and a bulldog named Dobby – she renamed her Winky because Winky was Dobby’s best friend in the Harry Potter films. Dobby and Winky bonded from the get-go, and Winky couldn’t be happier to be a part of Glenda’s family.
Winky needed a few weeks to recover, but she was more than happy to proceed with her shenanigans once she figured out she was the queen of the house. We salute you, Winky, and we hope you have a happy and healthy life with your forever family!
Read more: After They Were Found Outside, These Three Fluffy Kitties Were Trapped
