As the saying goes, cats famously have nine lives. And while that adage checks out thanks to cats’ incredible dexterity and spacial awareness, sadly, they can still be victims of animal abuse, especially when they’re just young and vulnerable kittens. In a post shared recently to Reddit, five kittens trapped in a plastic bag were rescued from the inside of a garbage truck by refuse workers as they were making their weekly rounds.
The incident took place in France in the town of Salies-du-Salat in Haute-Garonne, and while the footage was shared today, it appears that the rescue occurred in February, 2021. In the video, we see a refuse collector in high-vis uniform stooped inside of the back of a trash collection lorry, and he’s holding a white plastic bag.
There’s some back and forth between the workers, as the refuse collector takes the plastic bag out of the back of the vehicle and closely examines it. His colleague hands the trash collector a knife, and he gently begins to cut open the plastic bag. Inside the bag, we discover six kittens trapped inside, though they appear malnourished and very close to death. While it’s not explicitly shown in the video, one kitten has allegedly passed away.
Due to the emotional nature of the video, commenters were quick to champion the heroism of the workers who rescued the kittens, who heard meowing coming from the back of the garbage collection truck.
These aren’t garbage men, these are heroes.
Quillo_Manar
The garbage men were the ones who put the kittens in the trash in the first place. They are the real pieces of trash.
Meanwhile, the majority of other comments took umbrage with the people responsible for the kittens’ abuse, with one user, penning: “I hate the human race. People like this are disgusting“. Another commenter added, “Absolute monsters who did that.” and gained over 3k upvotes.
While this footage may be upsetting, there is a positive aspect to this story. Specifically, one of the garbage collectors who rescued the kittens actually adopted one of the young felines. He even has his own TikTok channel — les_aventures_de_sauvee — and the subject of some of his content features the young mog on its road to recovery, which is super wholesome.
Likewise, another kitten that was involved in the rescue was also adopted, and the three remaining cats were placed in a local welfare association. Ultimately, while the video is a saddening reminder of the cruelty some animals are subjected to, it’s also a testament to the kindness of strangers.
One comment in the video above, which documents the rescued kitten’s recovery, sums things up well: “Thank you for being amazing and giving them the second chance to live“.
