Franklin Township police are searching for the identity of a woman who dropped a pair of cats off on a roadway Thursday morning and abandoned them.

Township police Chief Jason Doll said police received a call around 8:30 a.m. about two cats, believed to be about 12 weeks old, being dumped in the woods just before LaRose’s Skating Rink on Route 209.

According to a post on the Palmerton Cat Project’s Facebook page, at 7:30 a.m., a woman was observed pulling off the road on 209 heading toward the turnpike in the vicinity of the skating rink.

The woman was headed back toward Lehighton after dumping the cats, according to the post.

“She opened the back of the van and grabbed a cat by the neck and viciously threw it onto the ground. After witnessing the incident, another driver was able to turn around and snap a photo of the vehicle.

A Palmerton Cat Project board member was alerted and responded. She raced to the scene to discover not one but two cats, (most likely brothers), starving and very frightened. Both boys were friendly and their rescuer was able to get them into a crate and bring them to safety.

Their story quickly spread, and by early Thursday evening, the boys were taken home to live with a local family who has a heart for animals. The boys have been named Max and Milo and they already have vet appointments.”

Doll said the vehicle in question is a black Honda Fit, and that it was in fact a woman who dumped the cats.

“We don’t have any other identifying information on her at this time,” Doll said.

Barbara Greenzweig, president of Palmerton Cat Project, said the two young cats could have been “easily re-homed,” by a local rescue in Carbon County, rather than abandoned.

“Animal abandonment — it’s serious,” Greenzweig said. “There are so many other rescues and people out there.”

“This was inexcusable,” she said.

Anyone with information about the owner/driver of the vehicle is asked to contact police at 610-377-1681.