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Happy ending for kitten shrink-wrapped to box and shipped 500 miles

By Ben Hooper
Joey the kitten is recovering after being shrink-wrapped to a UPS box and shipped 500 miles. Screenshot: WHBQ-TV
Joey the kitten is recovering after being shrink-wrapped to a UPS box and shipped 500 miles. Screenshot: WHBQ-TV

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MEMPHIS, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- A weeks-old kitten is bound for a new home in Tennessee after he was found shrink-wrapped to a box that was shipped more than 500 miles.

The Park Avenue Animal Hospital in Memphis said the kitten was brought in by a UPS driver who heard a sound in the back of his truck and discovered the young feline, estimated to be 5-8 weeks old, shrink-wrapped to a box that originated four days earlier in Chicago.

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"Last week a UPS driver who is a longtime client brought him in and he was driving a load that had come in from Chicago. The load had been packed about four days before," veterinarian Dr. Carolyn McCutcheon told WHBQ-TV.

The veterinarian said the kitten, dubbed Joey, was lucky to be alive.

"He was pretty dehydrated and hungry... He was shrink-wrapped flat with his four legs out. So it took a while for his legs to work again and for him to move his head again," she said.

"Probably he was in the warehouse, [the machine] scared him, he ran up the [packaging] and the machine just went around him and wrapped it," McCuthcheon said.

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She said Joey is recovering well, but he still shows signs of his traumatic experience.

"He still won't let us give him a bath, and he still smells like plastic," the veterinarian said.

The animal hospital said Joey was adopted by a family Wednesday and will likely be sent to his new home next week.

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