MUST READ: 4 kittens survived a trip to Sun City inside the engine of a Parkhurst car
PARKHURST – Clearly the kittens felt like they deserved a holiday to Sun City too.
It was no ordinary trip to Sun City for Parkhurst resident Sue Cruz and her family which ended up taking a bit of a ‘catty’ turn.
It all started when Cruz heard a meowing emitting from her husband’s car on 6 January, he brushed off her claims, “I thought I was going crazy because only I could hear the meows,” said Cruz.
She has a domestic feral cat colony in her Parkhurst garden and assumed it may be one of the cats nearby. With children and grandchildren in tow, the group left the leafy suburb of Parkhurst for the heat and waves of Sun City on 7 January. Throughout the trip, the sounds of tiny meows haunted Cruz.
“When we arrived at the resort I called over my grandchildren, at this point I really thought I had lost my mind but luckily they heard it too.”
Her daughter jumped into action, stopping an irrigation staff member, Gladwin Nkumane, for help. He could not get far enough under the vehicle to check the undercarriage for a stow-away cat.
Nkumane contacted his manager, Bennet Mohube, who called the resort’s indoor plants and fauna manager, Marinell Munro. “The guests brought the car here, but Jabulani Khumalo (our workshop supervisor) couldn’t see anything by the engine space, so he decided to jack it up and look underneath,” explained Munro.
What happened next surprised everyone when not one noisy cat but four tiny kittens were discovered, they had survived the 162km journey.
“We took them to our animal shelter where myself, Dorin Moyo our administrator, Lizzy Laka our cleaner and Manono Diko one of my fauna staff, cleaned their eyes out, put eye drops in, gave them some water and kitty milk to drink.”
The four beautiful kittens, who were about four weeks old at the time, are fully recovered and according to Munro, are getting fat and rather cute. They have been named, Jabulani, Bennet, Rasta and Lucy after some of the staff who rescued them.
“I guess the little ones decided that they also needed a holiday in Sun City and jumped in the car… haha. It just goes to show you how amazing and ‘strong’ nature is for these little ones to have survived the journey all the way from Parkhurst to here,” added Munro.
Cruz could not believe that these little souls survived such a long trip but is delighted that they are in safe and loving hands. “I have contacted the Animal Anti-Cruelty League to help me sterilise the colony. I am pretty sure I know who the mother and father cats are.”
All four kittens will be adopted with the two little girls already having soon-to-be new homes.
Related articles:
https://www.citizen.co.za/rosebank-killarney-gazette/233581/kitten-loving-gorilla-koko-communicated-using-sign-language-died/
https://www.citizen.co.za/rosebank-killarney-gazette/232349/healthy-friday-healing-power-cat-purrs/
