This week, PETA honored Wisconsin’s Outagamie County Highway Department for a roadside rescue that unfolded on May 27, the hottest day of the year up to that point.
The crew had pulled up to a park-and-ride in Little Chute for a routine mowing job. Before they started, seasonal worker Dakota DeWilde, only a few weeks into the job, caught an odd, litter-box-like smell coming from a van that had been sitting there for days.
He peered inside and found a black kitten staring back at him through the window, along with at least a dozen cats and kittens trapped in sweltering conditions. The older cats were already panting and lethargic; some didn’t even lift their heads.
The van had been flagged as abandoned for about a week. Rather than force their way in, the crew waited for law enforcement to grant permission…