Police in Burlington say a kitten thrown from a moving vehicle on Highway 403 last week is recovering at a vet clinic after undergoing surgery to amputate her leg.

In a video posted online, Const. Beckers, of the Burlington OPP detachment, said officers located the kitten on the side of the road after it was reportedly tossed from a vehicle heading east on Highway 403, just west of Waterdown Road, at around 10:45 a.m. on Friday.

“She is alive and well. She is recovering from the incident,” Beckers said. “Right now we don’t have any leads on the vehicle that the kitten was unfortunately thrown from.”

Beckers said the cat broke its right leg in two places during the fall and the injuries were so severe that the limb had to be amputated.

“She is being well taken care of and she is on the road to recovery here,” the constable said in the video, which showed the wounded cat napping in the arms of another officer who was also on camera. “She will be here for a little while in recovery and healing from her surgery.”

Beckers noted that the witnesses who immediately called police to report the incident likely saved the animal’s life.

“If they had not called us right away, we would have unfortunately not found this poor little kitten on the side of the highway,” She said.

“We did get dispatched and immediately went to the area. We found her within 30 minutes of the call and immediately brought her here to a vet’s office in Burlington.”

Investigators are asking any witnesses who have not yet contacted police to come forward.

“If you ever see any kind of act of animal cruelty, please call the police,” Beckers said.

In a tweet, police noted that the vet clinic offered the kitten treatment free of charge.

“Thank you very much to the vet’s office here in Burlington for responding immediately to my call for help,” Beckers added. “They took the little kitty cat here in without question and are taking just wonderful care of her.”