Fortunately, this kitty was delivered.
A 2-pound, 8-week-old kitten who was dropped inside a street-corner mailbox in Boston was later found unharmed among envelopes and packages.
According to officials with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the kitten they're calling "Postina" likely was stuffed Friday through a small opening of the mailbox and dropped several feet below.
"That's horrible. That's inhumane. I just can't believe it," José González, 37, told The Boston Globe. González, who lives near the mailbox, said someone may have put the kitten there because it is opened and checked several times a day.
A U.S. Postal Service letter carrier discovered Postina on Saturday during a scheduled afternoon pick-up.
The MSPCA is offering Postina for adoption after several days of nourishment and a round of vaccinations. A shelter spokesman told The Boston Globe that the MSPCA has been getting about 10 calls an hour from people who want to adopt the friendly white, black and orange calico cat. The application deadline for adopting Postina is Thursday.
Animal abandonment in Massachusetts is punishable by up to a $2,500 fine and five years in prison.
The MSPCA said there has been a 48 percent increase in pet owners citing financial reasons for surrendering their pets. Most people drop their animals off at shelters rather than drop them in mailboxes, though.
"A good man treats his animals well," Agabus Lartey, pastor of Family Life Fellowship in Boston, told The Boston Globe. "I know times are hard, but that's too much."