When box of 5 abandoned kittens is found, 911 operators step in to help



KENT, Wash. -- A group of 911 operators went out of their way to help a family in need. It was a family of kittens, left hungry and dirty, in a box behind the Tukwila City Hall.

Shauna Rogers answers dozens of 911 calls every day. But the one she answered Saturday stood out.

“I had come in, it was one of the first calls I took that day,” she says. “A man said he had found a box with five abandoned kittens.”

Shauna arranged for police to pick up the cats, but she kept thinking about them after the call.

“It was Saturday, so our animal control officers weren’t on duty. So I was wondering what the officer is going to do with all these kittens. I could hear them crying in the background; you could tell they were very little.”

So she sent the officer a message, offering to help the kittens find new homes with her co-workers at Valley Communications Center.

“Once they got up here, they went quickly. We could have had a box of 10, I think; they all could have found homes that night.”

Sarah Campbell adopted two of the kittens. Her kids named them Rosie and Wilson, after Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.

“They were so tiny, super cute,” she says. “They cried, and I couldn’t say no to them.”

Shauna and her co-workers don’t think they did anything special. But they admit it’s nice to see the outcome of one of their 911 calls.

“If you know people that have responded to a call that you’ve taken, sometimes you get to hear what happened. You get to hear the happy ending. But a lot of times, we hang up and we never know what happens.”

Now they know that they made a difference, and that the kittens will grow up in loving homes.

“It was really nice for them to come up and for them to go with our co-workers, so we still get to see them and pictures of them as they grow up.”

The operators say they’re not the only ones who helped the kittens. They say the person who called 911, and the officer who brought the kittens to the communications center in Kent also deserve credit.