BRUNSWICK — The Coastal Humane Society in Brunswick has taken in three adult cats and 10 kittens that were found abandoned and left in a covered plastic storage container sealed with duct tape in Freeport.

Jane Siviski, the shelter’s marketing and development coordinator, said Friday that the 13 cats had been found Wednesday by Freeport resident Laura Baumli near a gravel pit on Gray Road.

“She was walking her dog near a gravel pit in Freeport. She was walking with her daughter and found a tote and peeked inside,” Siviski said. “She initially took them home, put them in her bathroom and gave them food and water.”

Siviski said the three adult cats all appear to be recent mothers, showing signs of having nursed the kittens. A shelter worker determined after Baumli dropped them off on Thursday that the kittens were from three litters — one group about 3 weeks old, another group about 5 weeks old and the oldest kittens about 7 weeks old, she said.

“They actually appear to be in pretty good condition,” she said. “The cats seem happy and friendly.”

The lid on the plastic container in which they were found didn’t fit correctly, allowing some air flow. Shelter workers think they had been abandoned about a day before they were found.

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The kittens are too young to be adopted now, but all the cats will be adoptable after spending some time in foster care. All of them were to be placed by the end of the day Friday in their temporary homes, she said.

“We weren’t sure which kittens belonged with which mother,” Siviski said.

Over time, however, they observed which kittens were nursing from which adult cat, and noticed that the 7-week-old kittens already have stopped nursing.

The three adult cats are black-and-white, as are most of the kittens. There are some brown-and-gray tiger-colored kittens also.

“They are just really friendly, adorable, roly-poly, lovable kittens,” she said.

The Coastal Humane Society is at 190 Pleasant St., Brunswick, and can be contacted by telephone at 725-5051 or email at info@coastalhumanesociety.org. For more information, see the society’s website at www.coastalhumanesociety.org.

The shelter takes in about 2,500 animals per year and typically has about 10 dogs and 25 to 30 cats, though the number of cats tends to rise in the summer during “kitten season,” Siviski said.

Though the recently found kittens have foster homes, the shelter is always looking for more foster families, she said.


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