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Postal worker, wife adopt kitten found in mailbox

E-mail|Link|Comments () June 22, 2009 03:51 PM

(Photo courtesy MSPCA)
George Knapp, a postal worker, and his wife adopted the newly named P.D., for Postage Due.

By Stewart Bishop, Globe Correspondent

An 8-week-old kitten discovered abandoned recently in a mailbox in Hyde Park found a new home today and received a new name: P.D., for "Postage Due."

The 2-pound calico was adopted by a New Hampshire couple. The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals chose the couple after receiving a flood of queries after the kitten, which postal officials nicknamed "Postina,'' was discovered shaking and malnourished by a postal worker on June 13.

"We've received calls from as far away as Holland and Italy," said Brian Adams, a spokesman for the MSPCA. "When the news first broke, we were receiving about 10 calls an hour and a ton of e-mails from people looking to adopt her."

Adams said that despite the national and international interest in adopting the kitten, they decided to give priority to locals. "Obviously, we weren't going to be sending her anywhere."

The kitten was adopted by George Knapp, a US postal worker, and Dani-Jean Stuart, a free-lance news director for NECN, who live in Weare, N.H. Adams said the couple has a long history of adopting animals, and had adopted a dog from MSPCA 11 years ago.

"My husband's cat died suddenly over a year ago, and it's been only recently that he's indicated that he might be ready to adopt another cat," Stuart said. "Last Wednesday night, I was filming a segment for NECN, and she was our last story. I called my husband and I said, 'Honey, I've found your kitten.' "

Stuart contacted the MSPCA and expressed interest in adopting the kitten.

"She's a little spitfire," Stuart said by telephone from her home. "She just stood up and boxed my dog in the nose."

Adams said the MSPCA has been seeing a rise in abandoned animals, and people who are surrendering them are increasingly citing financial hardship as the chief reason.

He said abandonment is considered animal cruelty, a felony under Massachusetts law.