LETTER: How could you abandon kittens?

I’m writing an open letter to the troubled soul who dumped a box of kittens on Highway 40.

One of your kittens was screaming at me from the side of the highway on Tuesday as I nearly jogged right past him. Do you know you dumped them just two miles from the Spay and Neuter Task Force? They could have helped you. There are several places that could have helped you properly care for your unwanted litter and help you prevent litters: Flathead Animal Control, Humane Society of Northwest Montana, Flathead Spay and Neuter Task Force, KittyMOM’s Rescue Organization.

A woman in the lobby of the Spay and Neuter building saw two dead kittens on the side of the highway and had to explain to her children what happened. How do you explain what happened?

You must be troubled. You must be restless. Can you still hear the sound of the box hitting the ground? Can you just drive away? It must haunt you. You cannot forget the moment you abandoned multiple tiny lives as well as your civic responsibility to be humane.

—Julie Engler, Columbia Falls