It’s a rural road near Millet that Rod Day has driven countless times.
But around 3 p.m. Wednesday while he was heading to Wetaskiwin, Day came upon a blue Dodge Ram truck parked on the side of the road.
He says he saw the driver dumping something out of the window. Once he got closer he realized what was going on — the pickup driver was throwing two kittens out onto the cold, snow-covered road.
‘I was in shock’
“I was in shock, I thought she was dumping garbage,” Day said Thursday.
“When I realized what she had dumped, I tried to look and get her licence plate. I couldn’t, but I knew I had to try and follow her to get it, but she knew what she was doing.”
While he was staring at the driver, Day said, he put his own truck into reverse to turn it around.
“She put her hand up to her face and she drove away like a bat out of hell, ” Day said.
With his dashcam recording, Day gave chase.
Kittens abandoned on rural road0:12
“It’s a small country road where the speed limit is 50 km/h, and I looked down at my speedometer and I was coming up on 80 or 90 and she was still pulling away,” he said.
The driver eventually got away. Day said he spent 20 minutes looking for the truck.
In the meantime he phoned his wife Susanne in Millet. He told her what had happened and told her where the kittens had been dumped. He asked her to pick them up.
Susanne was only four minutes away and found the kittens on Range Road 242A near the Pipestone Links Golf and RV Park, a few minutes south of Millet. She took them back to work with her and called several vets and shelters but couldn’t find a taker for the kittens..
The couple decided to put them up on Facebook to see if anyone would take them.
Day had the story posted by 5 p.m. Wednesday, and provided details about how he came across the kittens.
Within an hour he had found someone.
Crystal Erikson was at home and saw the story on her Facebook feed.
‘They’re just such little lovers’
“We were already looking for a cat — my kid has been driving me crazy for a week,” said Erikson.
She met Day at the Petro-Canada station in Wetaskiwin and took the cats home with her to the hamlet of Gwynne, about 10 kilometres east of Wetaskiwin.
Erikson said her 10-year-old daughter Olivia is “pumped” about the cats. She was attached to them right away and named them Penny and Milo.
“They’re just such little lovers,” Erikson said of her family’s newfound pets.
“They cuddle 24/7 when they’re not playing and trying to beat up on each other. They’re the sweetest little things ever.”
Day, meanwhile, said people on Facebook are calling him a hero for what he did. He said he’s just happy the cats have found a home where they’re safe and loved.
‘We did what we thought was right’
“We did what we thought was right, and we found somebody who was willing to take care of them.”
He said Erikson “took them to the vet and got their shots and spayed and neutered and the whole nine yards, and it made a 10-year-old girl super happy.”
Day said he has shared his dashcam video of the incident to the RCMP in hopes police will find the cats’ original owner. He has also given RCMP a partial description of the truck’s licence plate.
The Alberta SPCA says it received a call about the kittens Thursday morning and is investigating.
“Over the next few days we’ll try to establish the identity of the person in that truck,” said Roland Lines, the SPCA’s communications manager.
Lines said a charge of causing an animal to be in distress carries a maximum fine up to a maximum of $20,000, adding that a fine that large is rare.