Six abandoned newborn kittens have been reunited with their mother after BC SPCA workers trapped the cat near where its babies had been found.
Animal cruelty investigators are still trying to figure out who abandoned the kittens inside a cooler in north Surrey.
The kittens were dehydrated, hot to the touch and appeared lifeless at 5:30 p.m. Monday when a woman spotted the open cooler bearing a "free kittens" sign on a sidewalk in direct suns
hine near Whalley Boulevard and 108A Avenue.
The kittens were only a few days old, with some umbilical cords still attached and eyes not yet open – considered almost certain to die had they not been found fast.
BC SPCA spokesperson Lorie Chortyk said the capture of the mother cat is good news.
"it makes their survival so much easier and mom and babies were thrilled to be reunited," she said Wednesday.
"Yesterday the kittens were so agitated – today they are curled up nursing with mom, all sleepy and happy as clams."
After a stint in veterinary care at the BC SPCA Animal Hospital in Vancouver the feline family will be placed into SPCA foster homes for around-the-clock care once they are well enough to leave.
Chortyk hopes someone can identify the distinctive cooler, which bears a "Koolatron" label (see image at right) that someone might recognize.
Anyone with information regarding the case is asked to please call the BC SPCA Investigations Department at 604-647-1318.