Rescuer Finds A Plastic Backpack Sitting In The Sun — And It Isn't Empty
Rescuer Finds A Plastic Backpack Sitting In The Sun — And It Isn't Empty
It was the hottest day of the year.
By Elizabeth Claire AlbertsPublished on July 1, 2026 at 4:49 PMLate one afternoon in May, the rescue team at Celia Hammond Animal Trust in the UK was suddenly flooded with calls and messages. People passing through a housing estate in East London had spotted a domed plastic backpack tucked away off the road.
It was an unexpectedly hot day — far too hot to be outside, let alone be trapped inside a plastic cat carrier. There was no way of knowing how long the carrier had sat hidden from view. But for the three little lives inside, it was clear that every minute mattered.
Amanda Stevens, a volunteer rescue worker for Celia Hammond Animal Trust, dropped everything and rushed to help.
“This was obviously an emergency because they would have died from the heat in very little time,” Stevens told The Dodo. “So it was just a case of getting there as quickly as I could.”
When Stevens arrived, she could immediately tell the kittens were struggling: “They were all squashed in together, and the heat was coming through this plastic dome … and it was an absolute heatwave,” Stevens said. “They were in a really bad way.”
Stevens opened the carrier just enough to give them air, while making sure the kittens didn’t escape.
Then Stevens rushed them into her air-conditioned car and drove them to the veterinary clinic run by Celia Hammond Animal Trust.
Once they arrived, the veterinary team worked quickly to cool the kittens down and treat their heat exhaustion.
Amazingly, all three kittens — who were later revealed to be boys — made a full recovery. The rescue group named them Napoleon, Prince and Tom.
“These three boys are around three months old, full of character, and completely devoted to one another,” the rescue group wrote in a Facebook post following their rescue. “They eat together, sleep together, play together and seek comfort in one another's company.”
After everything they’ve been through, their rescuers knew the kittens needed to find a home together.
“We wanted them to go as a trio because they're very bonded and they really love each other,” Stevens said. “It's difficult to find homes for trios, but we have managed to find one.”
For Stevens, the most rewarding part of the rescue was knowing she’d arrived in time.
“I was just pleased that I wasn't too far away and I was able to get there straightaway, because they wouldn't have survived very much longer,” she said. “But I sorted it out and they were fine.”
Meet Melat Kiros, the Ethiopian-born anti-Israel socialist crusader who is DSA’s rising star after stunning upset in Colorado
Meet Melat Kiros, the Ethiopian-born anti-Israel socialist crusader who is DSA's rising star after stunning upset in Colorado- US News
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Politics
Meet Melat Kiros, the Ethiopian-born anti-Israel socialist crusader who is DSA’s rising star after stunning upset in Colorado
By Ryan King Published July 1, 2026, 2:06 p.m. ETSee more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The New York Post on GoogleWASHINGTON — Democratic socialism is spreading West.
Political newcomer Melat Kiros, 29, who took down 15-term Democratic incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Col.) in a stunning primary upset Tuesday, is riding a wave of anti-Israel and anti-ICE sentiment sweeping her party.
The Ethiopian-born PhD student has pushed to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), suggested that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks were “inevitable,” downplayed suggestions that a firebombing of a Jewish rally was an act of antisemitism, and more.
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Once in the House of Representatives, which is considered likely because she’s in a safe blue district, Kiros has vowed to push Democrats as far left as possible and to oppose Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) becoming speaker.
Political awakening
Kiros refined many of her far-left views in law school at Notre Dame in the early 2020s, a period she describes as her political awakening, as the country was roiled by the COVID-19 pandemic and peak wokeness.
“I literally watched the Federalist Society handpicking some of my classmates onto the judge track in their decades-long bid to pack the courts,” she complained, according to Vox. “…I just lost faith in the system; I think a lot of young people did.”
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After law school in 2022, she joined the law firm Sidley Austin in New York, where she worked as a regulatory and enforcement associate. The following year, she was fired for writing a viral open letter lambasting law firms for pushing to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses.
“By chilling future lawyers’ employment prospects for criticism of the Israeli government’s actions and its legitimacy, you are complicit in Israel’s weaponization of anti-Semitism against legitimate concerns for the right of self-determination and the livelihood of the Palestinian people,” she wrote in the missive.
Sidley Austin demanded she take the letter down, but Kiros claims she refused and was fired as a result.
“I didn’t flinch because I stood by every word and I always will,” she boasted during her victory speech Tuesday.
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That move drew headlines and boosted her name recognition in lefty circles.
After losing her law gig, Kiros moved back to Colorado, where her family had immigrated while she was just 11-months-old. Her father had been picked in America’s Diversity Visa Lottery, per her campaign website.
Back home, she enrolled in a PhD program in public policy and worked as a barista.
Then, in the middle of last year, she decided to launch a seemingly long-shot primary challenge against DeGette, who is widely considered to be a very progressive lawmaker and has served in Congress longer than Kiros has been alive.
DeGette had the backing of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
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But Kiros’ candidacy caught fire with the DSA and other lefty groups that were hunting for candidates to take on incumbent Democrats and push the party further leftwards.
One of the major differences between the two was Kiros’ tougher stance against Israel. DeGette faced grassroots pushback for supporting defensive aid to Israel.
Kiros, however, made tough talk against the Jewish state a feature of her campaign.
For example, she told notorious lefty streamer Hasan Piker that the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack was an “inevitable consequence of apartheid,” though she later clarified she wasn’t trying to say it was justified.
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Piker is a very controversial streamer, having declared that “America deserved 9/11″ and praised the “brave mujahideen” who injured Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas).
In a similar vein, she told 9News journalist Kyle Clark that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were an “inevitable consequence” of US foreign policy.
Kiros has stirred local controversy for downplaying the role of antisemitism in the June 1, 2025, firebombing attack at a weekly Jewish gathering aimed at bringing attention to the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas. One person was killed and a dozen were injured in that attack.
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The attacker, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, screamed “Free Palestine” before later stating that he “wanted to kill all Zionist people,” according to the FBI.
Kiros repeatedly declined to call it antisemitism and told NOTUS that it wasn’t “entirely obvious that it was just motivated by antisemitism.”
Many of her positions are similar to those of other DSA members, including support for Medicare for All, a modified Green New Deal, and mass amnesty. Kiros also wants a 10% slash in Pentagon spending.
“People are seeing that capitalism is responsible for a lot of the degradation that we’re seeing in our economy, that we’re seeing in our democracy, that we’re certainly seeing in our climate as well,” she claimed in a recent interview.
“They’re demanding a new way to organize our economy.”
Should she win in November, she will be the first Gen. Z woman to serve in Congress and the second Zoomer overall, after Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.)
She is riding a socialist revolt within the Democratic Party, as far-left candidates have won primaries across New York, Maine, Illinois, and elsewhere heading into the midterms.
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