Despite receiving around-the-clock care by staff at the BC SPCA’s Shuswap Branch, “Pip”, the five-week-old kitten found inside a plastic trash bag on May 23 in Salmon Arm, succumbed to illness and died on May 27. The tiny kitten, whose immune system was likely compromised by being taken from his mother too early, was rushed to a veterinarian for intravenous fluids but could not be saved. “He was being bottle fed but just wasn’t able to process the nutrients in his body and he eventually became too weak to survive,” said Lorie Chortyk, general manager of community relations for the BC SPCA. “Our staff did everything they could to save him but it just wasn’t possible.”
Chortyk said the SPCA is extremely grateful to everyone who offered their support to the Shuswap Branch and said that donations will be used to help other abused and injured animals in Pip’s memory. “We rescue more than 32,000 abandoned and abused animals every year, including 7,500 kittens, and we are tremendously grateful for the community’s support.”
| The BC SPCA is continuing its investigation into who may have left Pip tied inside a plastic trash bag on May 23 at the community mailboxes on Black Road near Highway 97. Anyone with information is asked to please call the Shuswap SPCA Branch at 250-832-7376.
May 25, 2012 Injured kitten rescued from trash bag in Salmon Arm The Shuswap Branch of the BC SPCA is caring for a tiny kitten who was callously thrown out in the trash on May 23. “Pip” (short for pipsqueak) is recovering after being found tied inside a full plastic trash bag at the side of the road in Salmon Arm. “Why anyone would do something so cruel to a tiny kitten is unfathomable,” says Lorie Chortyk, general manager of the BC SPCA. The five-week-old grey tabby kitten was left to die inside the trash bag next to a set of mailboxes on Black Road in Salmon Arm. A woman picking up her mail heard the kitten’s frantic cries and rushed him to the Shuswap SPCA shelter. “Pip required immediate medical care for an injured front paw and was given oxygen to help him breathe,” says Chortyk. “X-rays revealed that the kitten already had an old injury on his right front leg.” Staff at the Shuswap SPCA are bottle feeding Pip until he is able to eat on his own but say that, despite being exhausted by his ordeal, Pip has an exuberant personality and is enjoying all the attention he is now receiving.
Anyone with information about who may have dumped the kitten in the trash is asked to call the Shuswap SPCA Branch. The branch is also grateful for donations towards Pip’s medical care and for other injured, homeless animals. If you can help, please call the branch at 250-832-7376 or visit spca.bc.ca/support. Photo caption: (above) Pip, with injury to front right leg Photo caption: (below) Trash bag in which Pip was found
The British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a not-for-profit organization reliant on public donations. Our mission is to protect and enhance the quality of life for domestic, farm and wild animals in B.C. |
