A hitchhiking feline in Florida has a 50-year-old truck owner to thank for her unusual rescue. This story has only recently made headlines in the United States.
The incident happened back in May, when 50-year-old truck owner Errand Frazier of Vero Beach started feeding a kitten. It all started when Errand heard the kitten purring from his Chevy pickup, which he kept parked outside his home. Errand put down food under one of the tires where the cat would find it. He even set up a camera so he could capture the moment when the cat showed up to eat the treat. Things didn’t go as planned for Errand.
The food was gone the next morning, but the video showed nothing. Errand was beginning to have serious concerns about his sanity. So he did what many men in the United States do to clear their heads. He went on a fishing trip. Once he arrived at his fishing spot, the purring started up again. Errand could hear the cat, but couldn’t figure out how to free the poor baby. He ended up getting out his toolbox, where he found a pair of metal cutters. When he cut back the metal on one side of the truck, Errand saw the baby kitten who had hitched a ride.
Unfortunately, Errand couldn’t reach the kitten, so he called the Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County for some advice. He drove, very carefully (of course), to the society’s animal shelter.
Those at the shelter who helped with the rescue couldn’t believe Errand had cut away at his truck to rescue the kitten. Humane staff member Tonya Martinez got under the truck to try to move the cat forward. Maria Valencia, another staff member, had on gloves so she could catch the kitten without being scratched. Supervisor Robyn Krajewski had a special carrier waiting.
The kitten was rescued, and seemed to know Errand had saved its little life. Errand and his wife are big animal lovers, having a dog and two cats of their own. The shelter also knows Errand, who has taken rescues to them in the past. Adoption counselor Sue Kelly says this sweetheart, now named Megan, has been adopted by a family with two teenage girls. Janet Winikoff, director of education at the shelter, posted the story of the 8-week-old kitten on CNN iReport.
This has led to the story going viral after the rescue made the shelters Facebook page. Now there are people, strangers to this kind man, who are donating to pay the cost of repairing the damage to Errand’s truck. The truck is their only transportation, and Errand and his wife Cindy hadn’t planned on having it repaired. They couldn’t afford it, as both of them are disabled and just didn’t have the money needed for repairs.
Cindy commented on the rescue saying “That’s the reason that little kitten just showed up here — because God knew we would do whatever we needed to do to make sure that kitten was safe.” A lot of people outside of the United States can’t believe the extremes animal lovers will go to in order to a distressed animal. People have been known to jump into icy rivers and lakes, cross highways in dangerous rush hour traffic and many many other extremely dangerous scenarios. While Errand didn’t do anything dangerous, he messed up the beauty of a truck he’s very likely proud to own. All to save the life of a vulnerable animal, which he couldn’t even see until he’d cut away part of his transportation.
If that doesn’t show love, then I don’t know what does. Way to go, Errand! You’re THE hero of the week to cat lovers everywhere.
Lovely story. Things like this happen more than we know.
I love this guy.
I’m going to be a complete monster and play the devil’s advocate and look at this from entirely different point of view just for the hell of it! What if he desperately wanted to rescue the kitten to save it from dying inside one of the chassis compartments of his vehicle because if the kitten had died inside an inaccessible place of his vehicle it would have constantly upset him and there would have been an odour. Perhaps this man was simply being pragmatic and practical rather than genuinely loving and caring.
Not his first rescue or I’d say you may be correct.
He certainly is a hero.
And, that little baby is gorgeous.
What a great story. I am so happy that this story ended well. A great big THANK YOU to Mr. Errand for his kindness.
What an amazing man and a beautiful little kitten I’m so glad it all worked out well it so restores my faith in human kindness 🙂