EDGEWATER, Fla. – Jessie Van Ryn was leaving her Edgewater neighborhood Tuesday morning when she said a car slowed down and someone inside it tossed two kittens out the door.
"Tossing your unwanted animals ... to just discard them in the road is not a solution," she said.
It happened Tuesday around 8:30 a.m., near the Fisherman's Cove subdivision on U.S. 1.
"I didn't know whether to look at the car or to look at the cats. I didn't know what to do," Van Ryn said.
Van Ryn dropped her daughter off at day care and returned to the spot where she found the two 6-week-old kittens. She was able to rescue one but the second one ran into a wooden area.
"She just was doing everything she could to get away from me and out of my arms she went and she ran into those woods," she said.
Van Ryn went home and returned with a machete and hedge clippers to try and clear the woods behind the Sunrise Food Mart. Animal Control personnel also arrived to check out the kitten's health and dropped off a cage for Van Ryn to use to catch the second kitten.
"I guess I set out on a voluntary mission to get these kittens, especially since I got the go-ahead from my husband to get them, fix them up and bring them home," she said. "I think people that are doing things like this need to have consequences."
The Southeast Volusia Humane Society said its had eight reported cases of this disturbing trend in less than a month. This one makes nine.
Last week, a litter of kittens was thrown from a moving car in New Smyrna Beach. Only one kitten survived. A $500 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest.
Van Ryn and other volunteers were still searching for the kitten Tuesday night.
The Humane Society and Furry Nation Salvation, a nonprofit group in Volusia County, will take unwanted kittens.