York kittens saved from two-tonne woodpile by skip drivers

Four kittens saved from being crushed by a two-tonne woodpile have been adopted by workers at the waste disposal site they were found at.

Three-week-old Oreo, Biscuit, Mittens and Bob were unknowingly transported five miles in a skip to Tancred waste transfer station near York by Yorwaste driver Nik Smith.

Describing them as “the luckiest cats to be around”, Mr Smith said they were heard crying five minutes before the pile was removed by industrial shovels, and moved to safety.

The kittens have now been rehomed with Mr Smith and his colleagues Andrew Pattinson and Alan Dyer, and are “absolute characters”, according to them.

Mr Pattinson and Mr Dyer were convinced to adopt the kittens when Mr Smith shared a picture detailing their rescue and appealing for people to take them in.

“I was worried because I’d bought an English bull terrier puppy, and I was like, ‘will they be all right?’,” Mr Pattinson, who took Mittens, said.

“But obviously he’s the boss now.”

Mr Dyer, who already has two cats, said he and his wife were looking for a third but ended up taking both Oreo and Biscuit.

“I thought, ‘oh, they’re really cute kittens, really young, really small’,” he said.

Vet examinations showed that none of the litter were microchipped, and were likely feral.

Also buried in the woodpile was a half-eaten rabbit, which Mr Smith suspects their mother might have brought back from hunting.

In Mr Smith’s role as a hooklift driver he travels around North Yorkshire collecting customers’ skips, so it is unknown where the kittens came from.

Because they were so young, the kittens had to be bottle fed regularly before they could move on to solid food.

Now four months old, the kittens are thriving in their new homes according to their new owners, although Mr Smith jokingly calls Bob “a terror”.

Mr Dyer said Oreo and Biscuit have “very different” personalities, with Oreo acting as the “boss of the house” compared to his more laid-back brother.

“Biscuit, once he’s had his dinner, he’ll just come up, climb up on my chest or on my shoulder, and just goes to sleep,” he explained.

This isn’t the first time that Yorwaste employees have stepped up to rescue animals.

In June, another driver spotted a lone duckling running down the A59 between Skipton and Harrogate during rush hour traffic.

He pulled over and managed to catch the duckling, later adopting him and naming him Ruffles.

After learning that ducks live in flocks and need companionship, he found him a friend called Bourbon.

Mr Smith, Mr Pattinson and Mr Dyer might have their hands full with their new family additions, but they haven’t completely ruled out taking in strays in the future.

“Don’t you send the photos to my wife or she’ll say bring it home,” Mr Pattinson joked.

“Never say never,” Mr Smith added.