Kittens saved from being crushed at landfill

A group of barely two-week-old kittens are "doing really well" after being rescued from a crusher on a landfill site.

The five kittens, believed to have been born to a feral cat, were spotted by staff at Crapper and Sons in Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire.

Mark Lambourne, who runs Shelter Paws Cat Rescue in the town, was called to rescue the kittens and is now caring for them.

Lambourne said while they were "a bit grubby" when found, the group were now "doing really well" and had since put on 100g in weight.

Crapper and Sons staff had checked the crusher on the morning of 13 April and noticed the kittens, three boys and two girls, cuddled together inside it.

Lambourne said: "The machine had been off for a few days and before they put it back on they did a quick service.

"They were looking at the machine and found five kittens at the bottom of it. I went right down and got them, they'd put them in a cardboard box for me."

Lambourne said the kittens, at the time of the rescue, weighed around 100g but had since put on another 100g each.

Lambourne said he was now getting up every three hours at night to feed the young cats.

"I'm doing syringe-feeding at the moment," he explained. "They've opened their eyes and are doing really good now, crawling around and making a lot of noise."

A fundraiser is ongoing to support the work of Shelter Paws Cat Rescue, which Lambourne said would go towards the care of the kittens.

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