A University of Georgia junior found a lot more than her luggage when she got back to campus after driving from New Jersey — a stray kitten wedged deep inside her car's undercarriage, having somehow survived the entire trip. Jadyn Sawyer discovered the animal after parking, when she noticed a small paw reaching out from beneath her vehicle.
Sawyer had just made the long haul from New Jersey to Athens when she spotted the paw and called campus police, according to Atlanta News First. She told the outlet she believed the kitten climbed into her car in New Jersey and rode all the way to Athens without her knowledge. The discovery happened after she parked at the university's Hull Street Deck, a multi-level structure that serves students and visitors on campus.
University of Georgia police responded and tried to free the kitten themselves, even removing bolts from the car in an effort to reach him, but their available tools weren't enough to finish the job. Sawyer also called her mother after finding the cat, and Kelly Bettinger, founder of the local rescue group Campus Cats, was brought in to help. Bettinger contacted Tires Plus on College Station Road, and the shop agreed to take on the rescue.
Mechanics Take the Car Apart Piece by Piece
At the Tires Plus location, roughly two miles east of the UGA campus, technicians Chris, Shadrick, and Gabriel put the vehicle on an auto lift and began removing undercarriage components one at a time to reach the trapped kitten. The shop did the work free of charge, turning down payment despite offers from rescue volunteers involved in the effort. Chris Hinely, who works at the shop, said staff had seen cats hide under cars before but never in a spot this hard to reach, and never in the middle of summer, according to Atlanta News First's report.
Once freed, the kitten was jammed deep enough in the undercarriage that removing him required the coordinated, careful disassembly the technicians performed. He was ultimately pulled out unharmed enough to be taken in for care, and the rescuers named him Jersey in honor of the state where his road trip apparently began.
A Nearly 800-Mile Journey That Took More Than 11 Hours
Jersey survived more than 11 hours and nearly 800 miles underneath Sawyer's car, according to the seed reporting. A drive between New Jersey and Athens, Georgia typically covers 750 to 805 miles and takes roughly 11 to 14 hours of continuous highway driving, per Travelmath, with the route running along major Eastern Seaboard interstates including I-95 and I-85. While cats hiding in vehicles is a well-documented occurrence, animal welfare organizations note that surviving a continuous multi-state interstate trip of this length unharmed is exceptionally rare; CatTime has documented similar cases of cats surviving 500 to over 1,000 miles inside engine bays or vehicle frames, typically by avoiding direct contact with moving fan belts or high-temperature exhaust components.
Cats commonly seek out the tight, enclosed spaces beneath vehicles or in engine compartments for warmth, especially in cooler months, according to the Atlanta News First report. The ASPCA has noted that these hiding spots expose animals to extreme heat and moving engine machinery once a vehicle starts moving, and humane societies recommend that drivers in areas with free-roaming animals tap on the hood, check the wheel wells, or sound the horn before starting the engine to give any hidden animal a chance to escape safely.
Kitten Gets a Clean Bill of Health, Adoption Ahead
Jersey was taken to the Animal Wellness Center of Athens, where Dr. Angela Dodd examined him and identified him as a 10-week-old male weighing 2.5 pounds. He received a clean bill of health apart from minor sniffles, along with preliminary vaccinations and a health screening that made him eligible for adoption. Jersey is doing well and is expected to be available for adoption soon.
The rescue was coordinated with help from Campus Cats, also known as Cat Zip Alliance, the all-volunteer nonprofit founded in 2007 by University of Georgia plant biology research professional Kelly Bettinger to manage stray and community cat populations on and around campus. Bettinger started the organization after encountering stray kittens near UGA's main library in 2005, according to UGA Today. Between its founding and early 2023, the group facilitated the adoption of more than 2,200 cats and kittens while offering trap-neuter-return services across a 120-mile radius of Athens, per Petfinder, covering the full costs of spaying, neutering, microchipping, and vaccinating adoptable community cats. Those interested in adopting Jersey or learning more can reach Campus Cats and Cat Zip Alliance at [email protected].
