Kids use kitten as ball to play catch, shelter says. Then responding cop adopts him

A black-and-white kitten weighing less than a pound was recently rescued from children using him like a ball in a cruel game of catch — and he’s been adopted by his savior, a Pennsylvania animal shelter said.

An officer with the Erie Police Department responded to a call about a group of kids “playing catch with a kitten” on a sidewalk, and he arrived to find exactly that, the Association for Needy and Neglected Animals Shelter said in a Sept. 3 Facebook post. The kitten was being used like a ball, the kids tossing him back and forth, until the officer stepped in.

“He recovered this tiny terrified baby and quickly brought it to the shelter,” where he immediately received medical attention from a staff veterinarian, the ANNA Shelter said.

Despite his rough treatment, X-rays showed the kitten, named Oreo, hadn’t suffered any broken bones, according to the shelter, but that doesn’t mean he was in good shape.

He arrived with a bloody nose and was in a state of shock, showing little to no response to anything happening around him, shelter director Ruth Thompson told McClatchy News. And he was sick.

“To make matters worse … this poor boy was suffering from an upper respiratory infection,” the post read. “This little kitten burrito was snuggled, medicated and given lots of TLC.”

Oreo is estimated to be around 5 weeks old, but was “extremely” underweight, weighing in at three-quarters of a pound, Thompson said.

The officer who responded to the call kept tabs on Oreo’s progress, and then gave him a new home.

“Officer Martin stopped in a few times to check on this little baby we named, Oreo. Well...on Saturday he decided to officially become Oreo’s dad AND hero!” the shelter said. “He is fostering to adopt this kitten that he truly saved from death!”

While circumstances have turned around for Oreo, many were outraged about what he went through, with commenters calling for the children and their parents to be punished. Still, others felt a gentler approach, a firm talking-to, could suffice.

It’s not the first time the ANNA Shelter has seen something like this, Thompson said, but the details of Oreo’s case affected her.

“Sick to my stomach,” she said. “The fact that (those) children have no regard for life.”

She’s thankful her community’s police “take animals so seriously.”

It’s unclear if any charges will be brought.

McClatchy reached out to the Erie Police Department for more information but didn’t immediately receive a response.

Erie is a roughly 130-mile drive north from Pittsburgh.

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