Kitten survives bin lorry ordeal (From South Wales Argus)

Kitten survives bin lorry ordeal

11:03am Friday 6th July 2012 in National News © Press Association 2013

A three-week-old kitten has been saved from being crushed to death in a recycling truck after it was dumped in a bin.

During its terrifying ordeal the female tortoiseshell kitten was thrown into a bin full of cardboard which was then emptied into the back of a waste truck.

As the truck's crusher began operating, two bin men heard her cries and immediately stopped the mechanism.

The men, who were completing their round on Cornwall Street in Plymouth, Devon, then saw the tiny kitten fall from the crusher's blades.

The kitten, which has since been named Lucky, was unharmed in the incident. She was taken to the Devon Contract Waste depot on Sowton Industrial Estate, in Exeter, where she has been adopted by the staff.

Donna Cook, from Devon Contract Waste, said: "They were picking up recycling and when the truck up-ended and as the crusher started pulling back the cardboard, they heard her screams. They stopped the crusher and out fell the kitten from its blades."

Ms Cook said Lucky was not any bigger than her hand and she rushed the kitten to the vet, who gave her baby milk to give to the animal.

She added that the large four-wheel bins had heavy lids so the kitten could not have got inside by herself.

"She was definitely dumped," she said. "We can't have lids that are open because the rubbish would go everywhere, so someone has to have opened it. That is the most horrific part of it, for someone to do that."

Diane Roberts, of the RSPCA, said: "It's horrifying, this poor little thing being so defenceless and at that age, of three weeks, probably not even got its eyes open, left in a bin with no food, no water and then thrown into this terrifying situation. It's remarkable that it survived at all, really."