Tyler

By CINDY MALLETTE
Staff Writer

It’s off to the animal shelter for little “Ranger,” a stray kitten who got himself lodged in the engine of Eddy Browning’s truck in front of the West Erwin Street post office Monday morning.

Browning named the gray-striped stray after the model of his truck, a gray Ford Ranger.

He had a soft spot for the furball, even though the animal bit him when he tried to rescue it a few minutes before it climbed behind the engine block.

“I feel so sorry for the animal, anyway. He doesn’t have a home,” Browning said.

Browning had been running an errand, picking up mail for his brother’s business, when he walked out of the post office at 9:30 a.m. and he saw the kitten sitting on the rear right tire of his truck.

“There was a woman out there with four kids, and her kids were trying to get it,” he said. “I reached down to try to get him, and he bit me.”

Browning held up his bandaged finger. Employees at the post office let him wash his wound in their building and gave him some ointment to put on the bite. He said he’s not worried about contracting rabies, but Tyler Animal Control officials say the animal will have to be quarantined for 10 days, just to be sure.

“Anytime there’s a bite involved, we make a special effort with the situation,” said Shawn Markmann, Animal Control director.

A Smith County Sheriff’s official walked out of the post office just in time to witness the scene. He called Animal Control, then began directing traffic away from Browning’s truck.

“That’s the way they are, always willing to help,” Browning said of the Sheriff’s official.

It took three Animal Control officers more than an hour to reach the feline, who yowled and screeched when the officers finally nabbed him. Traffic on West Erwin was down to one lane at that point, and a small crowd of people gathered on the sidewalk to watch the rescue.

“This is not my day,” Browning said, laughing. He said his brother would just have to wait for the mail.

One Animal Control officer got the kitten around the neck with a restraint pole while another, wearing thick leather gloves, grabbed the kitten’s body. They put it in a cage before loading it into one of their trucks.

“Usually, we get these kinds of cases during the winter,” Markmann said. “They crawl up in the engine block to get warm.”

After the 10-day quarantine, it will be up to the Klein Animal Shelter in Jacksonville to decide whether Ranger will be adoptable, Markmann said.

“The shelter will choose whether to put the kitten up for adoption at that point, or to euthanize him and check for rabies,” he said.

This article was last updated on Monday, June 30, 2008 at 4:30 p.m. at CDT.

Shawn Markmann, Tyler Animal Control director, helps another Animal Control officer rescue a stray kitten from the engine block of a truck Monday morning.
((Staff Photo By Bret McCormick))