Cat found frozen on Lincoln road makes recovery, rescuers offer tips to keep animals safe in winter

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - A six-month-old short haired cat, Maize, was found in Lincoln, ND frozen on the road about six weeks ago. A temperature didn’t even register before she was taken to the vet to be warmed up and fed.

Maize is now healthy, but those at the Central Dakota Humane Society ask that you keep a watchful eye on your pets and look out for lost and stray animals in the cold temperatures.

“We’ve had actually a few that have been found on the road this year. So, I don’t know if they are trying to signal to a human that they need help. Or just coincidence,” said Cameo Skager, communications and development director for Central Dakota Humane Society.

If you find an animal in need in the cold temperatures, Humane Society workers say to keep it warm and call animal control or a rescue to help.

“Right when the first cold temperatures start coming, the phones start ringing off the hook, frankly. A lot of times it is strays that people have been feeding and then winter comes, and people are like, ‘I can’t feed them, I am concerned they will freeze to death.’ It’s such a problem with stray and unwanted animals in our state,” said Skager.

She says that the humane society’s shelter has been inundated with stray and abandoned animals this year in particular. The facility is pretty much always at capacity.

Along with looking out for animals in cold temperatures, shelter workers ask the public to spay and neuter their pets. CDHS offers $50 coupons that can be used at vets around central North Dakota for spay and neuter services. Call the CDHS at 701-667-2020 for more information, or to adopt a pet.

Maize is doing well and is ready for adoption.