VERO BEACH — A quiet fishing trip turned into a full-fledged kitten rescue when Vero Beach resident Errand Frazier heard a faint meow coming from the bed of his truck.
The problem was, the kitten in question was not in the bed, under the bed, or in any reachable position in the truck, so Frazier took action and cut a hole straight through the metal.
“I looked up there on the inside of the cut, and I lifted it, and I saw the little eyes looking at me,” Frazier said.
Frazier said the kitten was clearly afraid and trying to protect itself, and he was worried it would either turn hostile toward him or run into the woods where it could fall prey to larger animals if he attempted to extract the cat by himself.
So he called ahead and drove to the Humane Society of Vero Beach, where a small crew of people were waiting to assist him.
“We had a staff member helping him and talking him through things, a staff member using gloves, another staff member who had a carrier ready. Everyone was doing their part,” said Janet Winikoff, director of education at the Humane Society.
“I would definitely have to say this is a first,” Winikoff said about Frazier’s willingness to cut a hole straight through the bed of his truck in order to save a kitten’s life.
Winikoff referenced the outpouring of support seen on the Humane Society’s Facebook page since the organization posted photos of the kitten rescue, including supporters urging a local body shop to help repair the Good Samaritan’s truck.
Since the focus was all on the frightened kitten when Frazier arrived at the Humane Society, the rescuer did not get to spend any time at all with the cat he had just rescued.
After the kitten was oriented into shelter life, Winikoff reached out to Frazier, offering him a chance to come back and spend time with the feline now known as Megan.
Frazier eagerly took her up on the offer.
“It was a beautiful kitten,” Frazier said. “And it was acting like it was home.”
In fact, Megan has already been adopted and will be released to her new family in the next few days.
“He’s just such a neat guy,” a thankful Winikoff said. And the second, more calm meeting between Frazier and Megan, Winikoff said could only be described as “a great reunion.”
After all was said and done, Frazier said he does not regret the damage done to the truck at all.
“I was just afraid for the kitten’s life,” he said. “The truck was no problem at all. I would have taken the whole bed off if I had to.”
