Animal Rescue Owner Helps Kittens Tossed From Car

WEST DUNDEE, IL — The owner of an animal rescue shelter was in the right place at the right time this past week. Raymond Sugel, who runs Bark of an Angel Dog Rescue in Lake in the Hills with his wife, was driving down Route 31 near Boncosky Road in West Dundee Tuesday morning when he saw a vehicle stopped in traffic with its emergency flashers on. When he drove past, he noticed a small lump of fur in front of the vehicle and a woman apparently trying to help the kitten, Sugel told Patch Thursday.

Sugel parked his car and went to check on the situation. The woman told Sugel she didn’t know what to do with the kitten. Sugel took over and was able to bring the first kitten, a small, gray cat that ended up just having a minor superficial wound, to the veterinarian.

A second cat was found dead, his “neck busted and head turned around,” about 150 feet from the first cat, Sugel said. That kitten was apparently thrown from a vehicle, he says. Two more cats were found dead dead in the northbound lanes of the roadway.

About an hour later, when Sugel was passing through the area again, he noticed a fifth cat alive and walking alongside the roadway about quarter-mile from where the first gray cat was found. He was working at the time and could not stop but called his sister to come and pick the kitten up.
That cat, which was uninjured and had not been hit by a vehicle, was taken to the vet, Sugel said.

Both kittens are around 9 weeks old. They are eating and drinking well and will be listed for adoption when they have received their immunizations, he said.

Sugel called the West Dundee Police Department to report the incident. He said due to the injuries he saw, and since the cats were found in various locations along Route 31, he believes someone threw the animals from a moving vehicle.

He posted about this incident on the West Dundee, East Dundee and Sleepy Hollow Community Blotter Facebook page this past week. The post received dozens of comments, including several from people who have heard of similar reports recently of cats being thrown from vehicles in Elgin.

“These guys were definitely thrown from a car,” he said. “They survived what could have been very bad.”

Patch will update with more information as it becomes available.