Royal Navy sailors show ‘incredible empathy’ to save four kittens in Bahrain

Royal Navy sailors demonstrated “incredible empathy” in their efforts to rescue a litter of orphaned kittens in Bahrain.

Personnel serving at the UK Naval Support Facility, which supports UK warships in the Red Sea, Gulf and Indian Ocean, found it “impossible to ignore” the five kittens, who were discovered under a shipping container.

The litter were heard crying after their mother, who had been known as Michelle, was found to have died.

Fearing for the newborns, who were around three weeks old, and with temperatures hitting 40C, the sailors took them under their wing.

“We knew the mother, whom we fondly named ‘Michelle’,” explained Petty Officer Kirsty Scott, a sailor 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.”

Royal Navy personnel hand-fed and reared the kittens, and while one of them died, four were given a clean bill of health by a local vet.

Furthermore, a home has been found for the group, leaving their rescuers satisfied with a job well done.

“It was impossible to ignore the desperate cries of five tiny kittens knowing they wouldn’t survive one day on their own in the punishing heat – they were too young even to eat or drink by themselves,” said Lieutenant Nathan Boal, who serves in the Royal Navy’s operational headquarters in Bahrain.

“I witnessed the caring side of our sailors as well as incredible teamwork to save these helpless animals and I’m relieved that our efforts saved them.

“Alongside managing the challenges operational deployments can bring, these sailors showed incredible empathy in making time for animals desperate for help, and no doubt this will be an enduring memory of their time in Bahrain.”