Trooper saves kittens abandoned in boat on side of I-90 near Moses Lake

Washington State Patrol Trooper Sage Schafer was taking inventory of an abandoned boat on the shoulder of Interstate 90 near Moses Lake Friday when he and his supervisor heard crying.

After searching through debris, Schafer found four tiny white and brindle kittens, said Trooper John Bryant, a WSP spokesman.

The boat had been abandoned for about 24 hours, set up on blocks and then fell over on its side, Bryant said.

Because it had been sitting for a while, it would be hard to tell if the kittens were originally in the boat or someone left them there later, Bryant said.

Troopers contacted a woman in Moses Lake, who did not want to be named, with a history in animal rescue, Bryant said.

“She’s got the background and she’ll answer the phone 24 hours a day. Animal shelters aren’t always open,” Bryant said.

The kittens are apparently in good health, Bryant said. He said he’s not sure if they’ll be relocated to a shelter or when they will be adoptable. Around 4:30 p.m. Friday, Bryant tweeted a video of the kittens squeaking in a blanket, being “all warm and fed,” he wrote.

Finding a boat on the side of the road isn’t that rare, Bryant said, but finding abandoned animals is.

“In the summer, you get a lot of vehicles that aren’t ready for the hot weather, so they’ll go up a steep grade, they’ll leave their trailers, RVs – I’ve seen all kinds of stuff,” Bryant said.

Most animals troopers find aren’t left in an abandoned vehicle. Bryant said most often, when a person needs to be jailed for a DUI, maybe on their second offense, a pet found in the car with them is taken to an animal shelter to spend the night.