Petition: They Were Clean, Friendly, and Four Weeks Old. Someone Put These Kittens in a Box in a Dumpster.

On a Saturday morning in late May, someone looking into a dumpster behind a building on Burnside Avenue in East Hartford, Connecticut heard something. Inside, in a cardboard box, were three kittens roughly three and a half to four weeks old — too young to eat solid food, too young to climb out, too young to survive more than a short time on their own. East Hartford Animal Control took them in and began bottle-feeding them. Officers noted something that made the case worse rather than better: apart from the dirt from the dumpster, the kittens were clean, sweet, easy to handle, and clearly socialized to people. They were not the offspring of a feral mother. Someone had been caring for these kittens in a home, and then put them in a box and threw them in the trash. No one has been identified. Desmond’s Army is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and prosecution, and East Hartford Animal Control is asking anyone who knows of a cat in the Burnside Avenue area that recently had a litter to call 860-291-7572. Please sign the petition.

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This petition asks for something different from most: not a sentence, but a public education campaign. East Hartford is asked to use this case to make sure residents know that animal control, shelters, and rescue groups exist precisely for the moment when someone cannot care for an animal — through social media, veterinary offices, and community spaces, so the information reaches people before they reach a dumpster. It is a modest ask, and it is the right one here, because whoever did this had options and either did not know it or did not care. The town has reason to act: East Hartford saw two other animals discarded like garbage earlier this year, a golden retriever found in a trash can and a young dog found dead in a bag in the woods. Surrendering an animal you cannot keep is legal, free or low-cost, and takes one phone call; it is not a failure, and no one should die because a person was too ashamed or too uninformed to make it. These three kittens were lucky. One Green Planet’s guide on what to do if you suspect animal abuse in your neighborhood covers how to report a case like this, and the local reporting is available via FOX61.

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