June 22, 2009

A two-pound, 8-week-old kitten, named Postina, who was dropped public mailbox in Boston, was adopted today by George Knapp, a New Hampshire postal worker. (Zootoo Pet News Photo Courtesy of MSPCA)

BOSTON -- Known for delivering mail under the worst of conditions and being stalwart in finding the addressee -- even on occasion, a hundred years later -- the U.S. Postal Service now can claim matching special packages to the right home.

That would be a forever home with George Knapp and Dani-Jean Stuart for the special two-pound package -- a 8-week-old kitten named Postina by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

She was found on Saturday, June 13, by a USPS letter carrier during a scheduled afternoon pick-up of public Boston city mailbox, where Postina was keeping company with dozens of envelops and packages. Apparently she was stuffed through the mailbox's small opening and dropped several feet onto the mail below.

Stuart was at work and reading through the script for the evening's news to be broadcast on New England Cable News when she learned about Postina, last Tuesday.

"I called my husband and told him I found his cat," said Stuart, a free-lance technical director.

"Recently, he was indicating that he wanted a new cat, but said that the right one would come along," said Stuart, whose husband's cat died a year ago and was "heartbroken."

With Knapp being a six-year veteran with the USPS, Postina seemed like the ideal new kitten to him. And in combination with his wife having already adopted from the MSPCA "they thought that we would be a good home," Stuart said.

This morning the Weare, NH, couple drove two hours to Boston to pick up Postina, who they are renaming.

"We are going to call her PD for postage due since she didn't have any stamps on her when she went into the mailbox," Stuart said after her husband prompted her to tell ZT Pet News about the name change during a phone interview.

Knapp wasn't able to come to the phone directly as he was late heading into work after the couple's half-day trip to pickup the little kitten. But Knapp's coworkers at the distribution plant -- where they make sure the mail goes to the right post office -- "all thought that it was pretty cute that the postal kitty came to a postal worker," his wife said.

Now with the Postina, or PD, home, she is getting the lay of the land, which includes meeting Caesar, the couple's adopted 14-year-old Doberman mix.

"He's very curious about her, but she just gave him a punch on the nose -- so he might shy away now for a while, but she hasn't used her claws yet, so that is a good thing," Stuart said of the kitten's homecoming.

The young feline's unusual adventure however is not that rare as it relates to the larger issue of people dropping off pets to shelters.

The MSPCA said there has been a 48 percent increase in pet owners citing financial reasons for surrendering their pets.

Yet, officials say they have not ever heard of someone dumping a cat in a public mail box, which constitutes as animal abandonment. In Massachusetts, it's a crime punishable by up to a $2,500 fine, as well as five years in prison.

Robin Wallace is the managing editor of Zootoo Pet News and can be reached at rwallace@zootoo.com.