Kitten smitten – kind Royal Navy sailors save orphaned litter in Bahrain

The hearts of personnel serving at the UK Naval Support Facility, which provides round-the-clock support to UK warships operating in the Red Sea, Gulf and Indian Ocean, were touched by the plight of the tiny cats.

The five kittens were found – or rather heard – crying for help, living under a shipping container having lost their mother.

Estimated to be about three weeks old and not yet weaned, the tiny creatures were immediately taken under the care of Royal Navy personnel.

Working collectively between shifts supporting operations, personnel became foster parents, hand-feeding and helping to rear the kittens – while at the same time trying to find someone in the local animal rescue/fostering community to offer the litter a permanent home.

Without the sailors’ intervention, the kittens would have perished with temperatures in the small Gulf kingdom already topping 40 Celsius by day.

“We knew the mother, whom we fondly named ‘Michelle’,” explained Petty Officer Kirsty Scott, one of the sailors who became one of the kitten carers.

“When we discovered her kittens, we were upset to find she had passed away and they were left to fend for themselves. They would come running out crying from the shipping containers at the sight of personnel looking for food, there was no way we could leave them suffering.”

Despite the team’s best efforts, one of the litter sadly died, but the rest came through some difficult hours to thrive – receiving a clean bill of health from a local vet.

And with a home found for the surviving quartet, saying goodbye to the creatures proved emotional – but sweetened by the satisfaction of knowing the litter would have a bright future and will be something they treasure long after their tour ends.