Newborn kittens need a 'mother'

These four newborn kittens are in need of a surrogate mother after they were abandoned in a carton box in Vittoriosa, alongside boxes of rubbish that were waiting to be picked up by a refuse truck.

Luckily, a street cleaner heard their meek meows and rescued them. SOS Animals (Malta) is calling for animal lovers to come forward to wean these kittens for a few days, until they are old enough to fend for themselves. Those willing to undertake this humane task can call on 9947 5357.

The voluntary organisation recently tried to save a ginger cat that had been thrown into the sea along the Vittoriosa waterfront. Passers-by struggled to fish the cat out of the water by means of a ladder and eventually succeeded. One of them alerted members of the St Francis Foundation for Animals, one of the custodians of the SOS Animals (Malta), who rushed to the scene.

"We gave first assistance to the cat which had swallowed a lot of sea water and was very cold. We began drying the cat and huddled a hot water bottle next to it. Sadly the cat died on the way to the vet," a spokesman said.

"This is the second time in a year that a cat has been thrown into the sea. Last year a female cat was rescued by the Civil Protection Department."

The association is in dire need of financial help to repair the car it normally uses as an animal ambulance and to settle a longstanding bill with a pet shop that has supplied the foundation with pet food on credit for the past two years.

Donations can be sent to HSBC bank account number 04000-1034050 or on the following numbers: 5061 6000 for a donation of 50c; 5061 7358 for Lm1; 5061 8071 for Lm2; 5061 8914 for Lm3 and 5061 9209 for Lm5.

sosanimalsmalta.com.

www.saintfrancisfoundation.com