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Cabbie Stops In Traffic To Save Kitten On Van Wyck Expressway

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Long Island taxi driver came to the rescue of a kitten stuck in traffic on a Queens highway.

Bill Cannon, co-owner of Beech Street Taxi in Long Beach, was driving home on the Van Wyck Expressway after visiting his sister in Queens Thursday afternoon. He was stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic near the Liberty Avenue exit when he noticed a tiny orange kitten on the traffic barrier.

Cabbie Saves Kitten On Van Wyck Expressway

"I was going by slow enough that I could hear it crying," Cannon told WCBS 880's Ginny Kosola. "I stopped and jumped out and grabbed it and put it in the car. It was ready to jump into traffic when I jumped out of the car."

After rescuing the tiny tabby, he called his wife, Renee, before bringing the kitten home.

"I said, 'You're either going to love me or you're going to hate me,'" Cannon said. "She sounded a little off at first and then once she saw the cat, forget it."

Autumn The Cat
Autumn, the cat rescued by a taxi driver on the Van Wyck Expressway. (credit: Family Handout)

Cannon said the kitten was frightened and had climbed under the dashboard from the passenger seat. He had to remove part of the dashboard and coax the kitty out with cat food for about two hours before getting him out of the car, Kosola reported.

Cannon, an admitted animal-lover with a 17-year-old cat of his own, intended to rescue the kitty and find a home for it, Kosola reported.

But the couple's four children -- three girls and a boy ranging in age from 10 to 24 -- immediately fell in love with the kitten and Cannon said, "I'm not allowed to give it away."

The kitten has been named Autumn and is being examined by a veterinarian.

"The cat's nose was bloody and we washed that up and it seems OK," Cannon said. "It's just kind of limping around a little bit."

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