August 1, 2005By ANDY KIRKALDYVERGENNES — A black shorthair cat named Hazel had just about finished nursing her own litter on Wednesday when the employees of the Addison County Humane Society in Middlebury surprised her with a new assignment — feeding five more kittens.

Of course, tabby’s surprise didn’t equal that of the Country Home Products shipping and handling department a little earlier that day in Vergennes.

At about noon on Wednesday employee Alan Beam opened a Federal Express package that had been shipped from Honea, S.C., to CHP’s Meigs Road plant. In the box Beam expected to find one of CHP’s DR trimmer-mowers that had been returned by a customer.

The mower-trimmer was there, but it wasn’t alone — there were also one gray, one light brown and three black kittens.

CHP facilities manager Mel Hawley said Beam is used to handling equipment with moving parts, but not what he saw.

“He’s not sure how high off the ground he jumped when the small furry ball in the bottom of the box started moving,” Hawley said.

The kittens’ story actually starts two or three weeks before, when they were born after a cat in Honea must have identified the box, which already contained the trimmer-mower, as a good place to raise her domestic shorthair kittens.

A couple weeks later, the CHP customer got around to sealing the package and calling FedEx to have them pick it up. The truck showed up at about 5 p.m. on Monday, and the cats began their odyssey.

“When the gentleman taped up the box, he must not have noticed the litter of kittens in the bottom of the box, so on their way to Vergennes they went,” Hawley said.

That way meant a 43-hour trip that Hawley pegged at 1,032 miles. ACHS assistant manager Laurie Whittemore said the cats arrived from CHP at the humane society’s Boardman Road shelter in surprisingly good condition.

“They’re doing wonderful,” Whittemore said. “I’m amazed that they all made it going that long without food.”

The kittens will nurse for another few weeks and be ready for adoption by mid-September, she said.

Fortunately, in the meantime Hazel is proving to be a dedicated mother, even with the second brood.

“She seems to love it, actually,” Whittemore said.