May 17 (UPI) — A kitten rescued from traffic by a Florida woman ended up taking an 80-mile ride in an Uber to an animal rescue facility.
Kylie Gross said she was on her way to work in Hialeah, just outside of Miami, when she spotted a tiny kitten weaving through traffic.
Gross, a nurse practitioner, said she was able to get the kitten into her car, but when she arrived at the clinic where she administers COVID-19 vaccines, the feline had vanished into the steering column.
“When I got to work, I couldn’t get her out of the car,” Gross told WPBF-TV. “I had no idea where she was. I could just hear her meowing.”
Gross elicited help from police and firefighters stationed at the clinic to help lure the kitten out of its hiding place, but she was then faced with the problem of where to take the feline.
Gross said she couldn’t take the kitten home, because her dog is not cat friendly, and multiple local shelters told her they had no room for the animal.
She said she learned that the Furry Friends Rescue in Jupiter could take the kitten in, but she had to work and couldn’t take the kitten for the approximately 80-mile drive.
“So, I called the cat an Uber,” Gross said. “I use Uber. So why not rescue a kitten using Uber?”
Uber driver Jose Jimenez said the hourlong drive was his first acting as a feline shuttle service.
“When it comes to saving a little pet like this, I’ll go anywhere,” Jimenez said.
Gross said her Uber bill for the ride came to $160.
Furry Friends Rescue said the kitten is underweight, but otherwise healthy. The rescue said in a Facebook post that the kitten was named Uber in honor of its rescue story.