The compassion of the Hot Springs community was on full display Wednesday morning when countless people stopped to help rescue two stowaway kittens who ran out into traffic on Central Avenue.
The last thing Rachel Francis expected to hear on her daily commute to work was the muffled sounds of kittens meowing but as she sat in the drive-through at Sonic, 1515 Malvern Ave., that is exactly what she heard. She and several others were sitting in line, waiting for breakfast when the small cries of kittens caught their attention.
"Everyone in line just got out of their cars and began searching for the kittens. It sounded like they were inside someone's car," Francis said.
When the people in line at the drive-through had no luck finding the kittens, other people stopped what they were doing to join in the search. Francis said even one of the cooks working at Sonic came out while on break to help locate them.
"We searched for a while and never found them. I assured everyone that it was impossible for the sound to be coming from my car because it had been parked in a locked garage the night before," she said.
After their efforts came up fruitless, Francis said she departed from the drive-through and wished the people still searching good luck. A little while later, Francis said she began hearing the kittens cry again.
"I just thought, 'Oh my gosh, there are cats in my car!," she said.
Once she arrived to work, Francis said her employers attempted to locate the kittens but still could not find them. After spending a few minutes looking in and around her car, they returned to work, assuming the kittens would eventually come out of hiding and scurry off.
They assumed wrong. As Francis made her way to go get lunch, she heard the kittens' cries once again as she approached the intersection of Grand and Central avenues. At that point, she realized she needed major help locating the kittens and decided to go to Mike's Automotive, 1920 Central Ave.
Employees at Mike's immediately stopped what they were doing to investigate, she said. Eventually, the two stowaway kittens were found hiding in the bumper of her car.
Unfortunately, as soon as the terrified kittens were found, they scrambled out of the bumper and took off in opposite directions. One kitten ran away from traffic, down a side street, and the other ran right into rush hour traffic on Central Avenue.
Another woman driving in her car witnessed the series of events starting to unfold from her car and immediately stopped to help. Jenny Tull, of Maumelle, said she knew something was off when the occupants of the vehicle in front of her came to an abrupt stop and exited their vehicle in the middle of a busy road.
"It was traumatic. I got out of my car and saw the one kitten run down the side street and realized that must have been what caused the vehicle in front of me to stop," Tull said.
Tull ran down the side street after the kitten and she and an employee of Mike's were able to corner and catch it. Meanwhile, the other kitten had climbed up into the engine block of the vehicle that nearly crushed it.
"I'm not from here but I assume that many of the other people were. Just to see people helping these kittens was amazing. You hear about how Hot Springs is a small, close-knit community and I got to see that (Wednesday)," Tull said.
The driver of the vehicle the kitten had climbed into pulled off the road to extract the kitten. Tull said several people stopped to offer help and check that everyone was okay.
After a while, the group was able to rescue the kitten from the car and keep both kittens from scampering into traffic again. Still, they had no idea how the kittens came to be in Francis' car or who they belonged to.
Francis said that once the kittens were safe Tull exclaimed, "I don't know whose kittens these are but they are mine now," and offered to foster them at her home until they found their 'forever' homes.
Tull said she has had plenty of experience fostering other cats and kittens and knew these kittens were meant to go home with her. She has since taken the kittens to a veterinarian where they received a clean bill of health.
"Everything happens for a reason. I don't know if it happened for me to see that there is still some good left in this world but I saw just that on Central (Wednesday)," Tull said.
Local on 07/02/2018