Man Hears Odd Noises Near Semi Truck, Then He Realizes The Dark Situation
It all started with a sound. A Colorado man heard the soft squeak from somewhere nearby, and he sensed danger — that didn't stop him from following his ears to a dark situation. Though he was reluctant to give his name when reporters finally caught up to him, he didn't hesitate to share the dark details of his harrowing night outside Denver.
On The Way
The anonymous man — who we'll call Anonymous for the sake of simplicity — was outside of a tire shop in Commerce City, a suburb about 15 minutes from Denver, Colorado. Even on the freezing October night, he could hear a sound of distress.
Ideal Timing
The streets were empty: it was 19 degrees outside, after all, and coronavirus restrictions were still limiting the number of Coloradans out and about. If Anonymous didn't track down the sound, no one would, and the urge to act only grew as he realized what was making the noise.
The Semi-Truck
Anonymous followed the animal cries to a parked semi-truck, and he had to do a bit of searching to discover the source of the sounds; when he checked one of the truck's tires, his suspicions were confirmed.
Little Damsel
Within one of the trailer's tires, Anonymous found a small tabby kitten (below), completely stuck. He'd been following what he suspected were meows, though he didn't expect to see such a dire situation: Because it was so cold outside, the kitten was frozen to the metal!
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Cold Danger
Anonymous knew time was running out for the little one. Even in normal circumstances, a kitten without her mother isn't long for the world. Throw in sub-freezing temperatures and a miserable sense of isolation, and the situation becomes a lot more dire. He wanted to get this kitten to safety — and back home.
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Mission Accepted
Rather than run for help, the man rushed to help the kitten himself. He grabbed some warm water to melt the ice without burning the trapped kitten. The operation was going to be a delicate one — could he melt the ice, keep the kitten safe, and make sure he didn't run off?
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Not Giving Up
As carefully and quickly as he could, the man began to thaw the kitten out. He gently applied warm water to the kitten's paws and tail, while keeping him dry with a separate towel. Shivering from the intense cold, Anonymous tried not to rush the job.
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Melting Hearts
For nearly half an hour, the kind stranger continually thawed and dried the kitten, until, finally, the little one was freed. Anonymous bundled his new friend up in a blanket right away, and rushed her over to a local animal shelter. The tabby's life was still in danger, with hypothermia looming in the freezing cold.
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Emergency Drive
He wasn't sure how long the kitten was left out, unprotected in the freezing temperatures, but the frostbite was certainly doing a number on her health. Anonymous did his best to keep the kitten warm as he drove through snowy Colorado. He knew just where to take him.
Great Care
The man brought him to a Denver Animal Shelter called Dumb Friends League. There, helpers shelter animals, raise money via donations, and perform life-saving operations. It's one of the spots in town where a kitten could be brought back from the brink.
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TLC
The little kitten was taken into the shelter's care. He continued to shiver from the cold and fear for his life, so the veterinary staff took their time to care for the frightened tabby as gently as they could. Getting him on his feet — and back home — was going to be a tough endeavor.
Diagnosis
Eventually, the little tabby calmed down with the tender care the staff gave her. A full examination showed that the main concern was the frostbite on her paws, but she was rescued and brought to them before any major health concerns surfaced.The kitten was on his way to recovery.
Too Little
Veterinarians determined he was about 5-weeks old, and in his condition had to remain in the care of the shelter. Also, the feline was male, not female! They named him Xerxes, after a Persian king. They figured the name commanded a certain respect, which the feline definitely earned after freezing to a semi-truck tire.
Short-Term Patient
Over time, he became more friendly and playful, and made a full recovery from the frostbite, but Xerxes' story wasn't quite over. Dumb Friends League, like Anonymous, wanted Xerxes to find a great home, which was a tough mission to pull off in a pandemic.
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When You're Older
While there would be some who could take the time to give round-the-clock care for a newborn kitten, life was a little chaotic in 2020 Colorado at the time, and caring for a 5-week old kitten wasn't a simple undertaking. So, Xerxes moved in to the shelter, though an old friend was keeping an eye on him.
Newborn Precautions
At the shelter, Xerxes received round-the-clock attention until he was strong enough to move out — about 8 weeks old. When he hit the threshold, the hardworking vets knew it was time for him to find a forever home, and they had the perfect candidate in mind.
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Happy End
When Xerxes was finally old enough for adoption, he found himself back in the arms of his hero! Anonymous had stayed in contact with the shelter while Xerxes was recovering, and adopted the cat as soon as he could. While we don't know much about the man, we do know this...
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Worth Remembering
Xerxes the Kitten has that compassionate stranger to thank for saving his life. The Dumb Friend League said that if it weren't for his heroic acts, Xerxes would not have made it. The hero of this tale never really forgot about the shivering kitten alone in the snow, and the rescue left him with a sense of longing.
Fated Family
The man began looking more into the online rescue community. Soon, he came across a story so beyond belief he had to read it twice: a woman halfway across the world, in South Korea, had been feeding homeless cats every day for five years. But events were about to take a very strange turn when she noticed something “off” about a stay she’d never seen before. This was no normal kitty.
Fast Friends
For five years, the unnamed Korean woman from a local pet shelter made it her business to distribute food to all of the feral cats that lived in her neighborhood. She bonded with many of them, but one definitely stood out from the pack for a concerning reason...
The cat, whose name was Dongsuk, appeared regularly to get her meals just like the other feral cats. However, unlike her feline friends, she turned up her nose at a bowl of fresh dry food. She just didn't seem interested in the food if it was presented this way.
Worried that Dongsuk wasn't getting the nutrients she needed to survive, the woman tried offering her feline friend different varieties of dry food. She even went too far as to offer the cat a can of wet food. It was no use—Dongsuk wouldn't bite!
That's when the woman decided to try something different. Instead of offering Dongsuk opened food, she decided to try wrapping it up in a plastic baggie. Sure enough, it worked like a charm! The cat immediately grabbed the bag of food and mysteriously headed off somewhere.
Soon, this became the new routine for both the plucky volunteer and for her friend, Dongsuk the cat. The volunteer made sure that she always had a special bag of food prepared for her, and the cat would eagerly take that bag and wander away with it. But why?
While the volunteer was thrilled to have figured out a way to get the cat to eat a hearty meal, she was still incredibly puzzled by her behavior. Why on Earth would the cat prefer food that was undeniably more difficult for her to eat?
In addition to wondering why Dongsuk preferred that her meals were served in this unconventional way, there was also the question of where exactly the cat was taking the food to once she received it. Most of the other cats simply ate in front of the volunteers...
To get to the bottom of this, the volunteer and her friends decided to follow Dongsuk, but they knew this would be very tricky. While the cat was very sweet, she was still feral, and chances are she wouldn't take well to being followed. The last thing they wanted to do was scare her away from her primary source of food.
So, the volunteer and her friends decided to trail Dongsuk from a distance. As they did so, they became baffled when the cat led them to to a special spot just above the entryway to an old building. What was she doing?
The cat seemed a little worried. She was pacing back and forth with the bag of food in her mouth like she was waiting for someone. The volunteer and her friends couldn't understand. If Dongsuk wasn't eating the food, what was she doing with it?
In a couple of seconds they had their answer. In response to Dongsuk's meows, a tiny ginger kitten came scampering up to meet her. Immediately it became clear that the reason Dongsuk would only take the wrapped food was because she was a mom!
The mother cat sat and watched on contentedly while her young kitten ripped into the bag and happily ate her share of the food that her mother had delivered. The volunteer and her friends were nearly in tears!
From that point on, the kind woman and her fellow friendly volunteers knew that they had to do something. They did a little digging, continuing to follow Dongsuk and asking locals who might know her for information about her story...
In the process, they learned something heartbreaking: Dongsuk originally delivered a litter of five kittens. Unfortunately, life on the streets wasn't easy, and because they had no one to protect them while she ventured for food, Dongsuk was left with just one surviving kitten.
The volunteers knew that if they wanted to help Dongsuk and give her the life that she and her kitten deserved, they were going to have to intervene. Starting small, they returned to the site where they spotted the two and left a warm quilt to help make them comfortable. This was only the beginning of their plans...
The team of volunteers returned to the spot each day to try and help Dongsuk and her kitten. They hoped their presence would make the pair feel more comfortable being around people. Dongsuk seemed to understand that pretty quickly, but her kitten needed some convincing...
Thankfully, even the kitten warmed up to the team before too long, and it's a good thing that she did! Otherwise, when the volunteers arrived and greeted the kitten and her mother with equipment like this they might have run away!
Luckily, once they earned the animals' trust, the team was able to pack them together into a carrying box with exceptional ease. They didn't like the net, but they didn't fight it too much, either. Now, they're on the path to finding the new forever home they both deserve. Their story wasn't over just yet, though...
While they waited to be adopted, this mother and daughter were able to live in a house of their own instead of skulking around the shadows and hoping for scraps. Now, their food comes in big, overflowing bowls—not in little plastic bags. How nice is that?
The story of Dongsuk and the people who cared enough to look out for her in this way is a real inspiration. Not only is it a story of motherly love, but it's a tale of the power of truly doing good.
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