Taped up and Tossed out With the Rubbish: Barbara’s Story

Whilst out walking around her neighbourhood, a member of the public was surprised by the loud sounds of a cat crying. The noises seemed to be coming from some nearby wheelie bins.

Thrown Away Like Rubbish

The member of the public then made a shocking find – a tiny, terrified cat was trapped inside a taped-up litter tray, and left out for the local refuse collectors to take away.

She immediately called Mayhew for help, and our Animal Welfare team advised her to bring the cat straight in to us.

  • We named the ginger and white bundle Barbara, and upon closer inspection, we discovered that the 10 month-old cat was covered in her own urine, and had no food with her.
  • To make matters worse, her collar had been wrapped tightly twice around her neck, and was suffocating her.
  • Unsurprisingly, Barbara was also in a considerable amount of pain and distress from being trapped inside such a small space for an indeterminate amount of time.

Tania Mazzoni, one of our Animal Welfare Officers, carefully coaxed Barbara out of her litter tray prison so that our vets could take a closer look at her. We then managed to remove the collar and clean her up, before settling her down into a warm and cosy cabin in our cattery to recover.

When Barbara was feeling a little bit calmer, we were able to give her a full health check and make sure she had not suffered any lasting effects from her ordeal.

Escaping a Terrible Fate

Barbara was incredibly lucky that her cries were heard, and that we were alerted.

If she hadn’t have been found, she would have ended up inside a bin lorry, where she may then have been crushed to death or abandoned on a landfill site, with no hope of escape.

Unfortunately, Barbara is just one of the many animals we have rescued from a terrible fate.

We see cats and dogs that urgently need our help every single day, and we support pets and owners in need to ensure that less animals find themselves abandoned or mistreated within our local community.

Donate to save even more lives

Mayhew receives no government funding, and relies solely on donations from generous people like you.

We offer every cat and dog brought to us all the love, safety and care that they deserve.

  • £5 could provide flea and worm treatment for a dog that comes into our care
  • £15 could provide essential nutritious food for an animal in need
  • £25 enables our Animal Welfare Officers to answer a cry for help when an animal needs it most
  • £50 helps pay for essential surgical equipment for our on-site vet clinic

Please donate here to help us continue to help animals like Barbara.

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10 thoughts on “Taped up and Tossed out With the Rubbish: Barbara’s Story

  1. Liz says:

    Totally agree with previous persons comment. My goodness, what is the world coming to, to do something like this. May she have a happy home.

  2. Crystal says:

    How awful. So glad Barbara survived and now I hope she finds a loving furrever home. If someone will do that to a dear little kitten then there is no telling what they do to to people. Good Luck to Barbara.

  3. Rohvannyn says:

    Sad to see yet another person just hiding their problems away instead of dealing with them – and I’m very happy a healthier person heard the cries of distress and saved a life.

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