FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Officer’s Good Deed Earns Him New Pet

In an unusual rescue last week, Police Officer Gary Kirby scooped an abandoned kitten off a roadway and saved the tiny feline from being killed by an oncoming car.

As Kirby patrolled city streets April 27, he saw a couple of dead kittens, killed by cars, in the traffic lanes on Edinger Avenue between Harbor Boulevard and Euclid Street.

“It was kind of obvious that someone dumped them off in the roadway,” Kirby said.

As Kirby continued to drive, he saw another dead kitten. Then he stopped at the intersection of Euclid Street and Edinger Avenue and saw a kitten alive in the fast lane.

As Kirby flashed his lights and prepared to stop, the kitten darted into the next lane and was almost hit by another vehicle. Kirby then stopped traffic, got out of his patrol car and rescued the scared gray kitten from the street.

Motorists clapped, honked and gave the police officer a thumbs up for his good deed, he said.

During the ride back to the station, the shaken kitten climbed up inside the car’s dashboard. It took several people to get him out, a feat accomplished only after the radio was removed.

Inside the police station, officers pampered the kitten, giving him a can of tuna to eat and a cardboard box, padded with a T-shirt, to sleep in.

Kirby took the kitten home. He and his wife, Lisa, have named him Caine.

“It makes me feel good,” Kirby said of his rescue effort. “I’ve got a new cat now, and he acts like he owns the house already.”