MUSKEGON COUNTY, Mich. — The woman accused of dumping newborn kittens onto a sewer grate at a Muskegon Township car pleaded guilty to an animal cruelty charge in court Monday.
Donna Jean Puisis, 75, had been charged with one felony count of abandoning/cruelty after surveillance video showed her leaving the kittens at the Grand Bays Car Wash in September 2022.
The co-owner of the car wash, Will Kuczmera, filed a police report after he caught the incident on his surveillance video. He says in addition to leaving the kittens, the mother of the cat was also dumped at the car wash and ran off.
Since the incident, all six kittens have died. Their mother, who volunteers named "Mama Suds," is doing fine.
During an interview with 13 ON YOUR SIDE back in September, Kuczema said he watched the woman remove a cooler from the back of the car and remove each kitten one by one and put them onto the grate.
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Kuczema said he walked up to bay two after the woman pulled away less than a minute later and saw the days-old kittens left on top of the grate.
"It just really struck me like how these animals are so small and helpless," Kuczmera says. "It's kind of disgusting. Like, why wouldn't this person just drop them off at one of the animal shelters?"
He put the kittens in a box and called 911 to figure out what to do, when a good Samaritan stepped in.
She's due in court for a sentencing hearing in April.
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