1 cat, 10 kittens found in box duct-taped shut in B.C dumpster

A volunteer with a B.C. animal charity shudders to think what would have happened if a man walking by a dumpster hadn’t noticed the sound of meowing last month.

The Good Samaritan found a box that had been heavily duct-taped shut, retrived it and cut it open. Inside was a mother cat and 10 kittens – eight that were still nursing and two that looked to be about four months old.

Romany Runnalls, with the Okanagan Humane Society, remembers the exact time she got the call about the alarming discovery. It was 10:37 a.m. on Nov. 25.

"Shock, horror. That's how I felt when I got that phone call. It was that call that you never want to get," she tells CTV News.

"It was a cold day and it's been cold weather and if they hadn't been discovered quickly then they could have succumbed not only from the weather, but the unimaginable."

The mother cat and her kittens were picked up in Penticton by a volunteer and taken to a veterinarian for an emergency check. While the cat and kittens all turned out to be in good health, the cost of getting them the basic care they need in order to eventually be adopted is upward of $3,000.

Runnalls says her organization has been under increased strain recently, responding to calls about abandoned animals in a region that stretches over hundreds of kilometres, from Osoyoos to the Shuswap. When the cold weather swept through the region, the number of calls increased dramatically.

"We've had just a huge enormous volume of calls come in," she said, adding they have also seen a spike in situations where people who have lost their housing or who can no longer afford to care for their pets.

"That's another critical situation right now. Animals are being left behind, unfortunately, and the shelters are full and they're turning people away in droves."

The Okanagan Humane Society doesn’t operate a shelter. Instead they rely on volunteers across the region who can rescue animals and others who can foster them. While that means they aren't limited by shelter capacity, it also means they rely on community support and donations to be able to do their work. Partnerships with veterinarians allow the organization to get the necessary care for the animals, but that's another cost that is increasing.

"We need funds," Runnalls says.

The charity is appealing for donations through the end of the year, with a campaign called Angels for Animals that will match contributions up to $25,000.

Still, while charities and shelters that care for animals are under pressure, Runnalls says she wants people to know that support is available – and encourages anyone who is in crisis to reach out.

"If there's a situation where you feel completely helpless, there are a lot of generous people in the Okanagan, rescues and charities here to help," she says.

The two older kittens have already found their forever homes, Runnalls says, and the remaining kittens will be ready to be adopted around the end of January.

More information is available online.