Kitten rescued after being thrown off bridge

The little grey kitten licking her paws in the middle of Danny and Melanie Stevenson's kitchen floor looks like she hasn't a care in the world. It's hard to believe the kitten survived being tossed from a pickup truck as it crossed the Arthurette highway bridge and plunging about 50 feet into the river below.

Danny and Melanie Stevenson and their sons Bill and Alex along with Twyla MacKellar and her grandson Connor were swimming in the Tobique River, Canada near the western shore when they saw something fly out of a pickup truck as it crossed the bridge.



"I looked up and said 'that's either a puppy or a small cat'," Danny Stevenson recalled of the Aug. 16 event. "I couldn't believe it."

The kitten, which they estimate was about two months old, struck the water and immediately started swimming frantically. It made it to the shore where it was found shivering, shaking and drenched.



"If it had been just a few feet farther out in the river, the current would have taken it," Stevenson said. "And if it had been just a few feet closer to shore, it would have hit the rocks."

The boys gathered up the kitten and on close inspection, were amazed to find it was uninjured. The Stevensons took the little grey striped cat home and after it was dried and comforted, the kitten made itself right at home. The family dog gave her a few approving sniffs and their adult cats were also accepting. After surviving such an ordeal, it was decided the kitten's name should be Lucky.