Box ‘Tossed’ Into Shelter Lobby, Rescuers Heartbroken at What They Find

A video of cats that were left “helpless” and “confused” after being abandoned at the lobby of an animal rescue has gone viral on Instagram.

The video was shared by the Brother Wolf Animal Rescue (@brotherwolfanimalrescue) in Asheville, North Carolina, and has had 2.3 million views since it was first posted on March 9.

A caption shared with the post says: “Somebody tossed two cats in our lobby. They opened the door, tossed a box in—sliding it across the floor, then ran out to a car waiting in the road that sped away.”

The footage shows the cardboard box being opened in an office setting and two cats are shown peering out of the box. One of them appeared to be panting with its mouth open, while the pair looked around the room.

According to a later comment shared by the animal rescue, the names of the cat, Juniper and Theodore, were written on the box.

“This is not the way to do it. Not when you cause unnecessary stress to a helpless, confused animal,” the caption noted.

Each year 6.3 million pets enter U.S. shelters, which is an average of 17,260 a day, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The number of dogs and cats taken in by pet shelters hit 46,807 during January 2023, an increase of 1,744 compared with January 2022, the 24Pet “Shelter Watch Report” found.

Around 920,000 surrendered animals are euthanized every year. Shelters are striving to minimize euthanasia rates by promoting adoption campaigns, spaying and neutering programs, and behavior rehabilitation.

Among the millions of animals entering shelters and rescues across the country, adult cats and neonatal kittens (newborns aged up to around 4 weeks old) form a large portion of those in need of a home, according to the nonprofit The Humane Society of the United States.

A November 2014 study published in Applied Animal Behavior Sciences found that domestic cats can experience “serious stress” in shelters and traumatic experiences can have a major impact on the welfare of felines.

The stress can cause “higher incidences of infectious diseases in the shelters due to raised cortisol (stress hormone) levels causing immunodeficiency,” the study said.

‘The Grief in Their Eyes’

A caption shared with the viral video says: “We always try to give people the benefit of the doubt. Not make quick judgments. Check our biases. Not to shame them for needing help. Some days, it is really hard to do that. Today is one of those days.

“For now, they have a quiet and safe space to decompress. And we know that tomorrow will be better,” the caption concluded.

Users on Instagram were heartbroken for the abandoned cats in the viral clip, such as a.pinch.of.reverie who said, “You can see the grief in their eyes. You can literally see their sadness and how lost they feel, they know they’ve been left behind like they don’t matter.”

User heatherirwin111 wrote: “Oh, those sweet babies. The eyes, ears, and panting show the fear. Hope they find the most loving home.”

“So sad. Their lives are about to get much better though. Thank you for what you do. It certainly isn’t easy,” commented bricelyns.

Many also gave the previous cat owners the benefit of the doubt, such as phasecraftmagic, who said: “The fact that they brought them to you and wrote their names on the box instead of dumping them somewhere tells me this what not an easy decision or something they wanted to do. Thank you for continuing to promote compassion, even when it’s hard.”

“They brought them to you and didn’t dump in the woods or leave in an empty apartment. They might have been told there was a fee to surrender and they couldn’t afford it and they didn’t want to leave them outside,” wrote tails_from_the_foster_kittens.

“So it may not have been the best way to do this but…We don’t know the motivation behind this but they took the time to put their names, and did not leave them on the street…,” wrote tatidanidean.

Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via email. This video has not been independently verified.

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