First responders frequently make rescues, but one furry friend was an uncommon case.
It started out as an ordinary traffic stop along SD-79 for South Dakota Highway Patrol trooper Elyse Helkenn.
“As I was explaining the reason for the stop and who I was, I felt something brush up against my legs and sure enough it was a little orange kitty,” Helkenn said.
She said it was like a scene straight out of “Super Troopers.”
“After I finished up my traffic stop I looked around the area to the very few homes that are out on that stretch of 79 to see if it maybe belonged to a farm house or anybody out there – nobody claimed him," Helkenn said. "I made a few phone calls to some other residents towards the area – nobody claimed him. So, I brought him to the Black Hills Humane Society in Rapid City.”
Helkenn even made a suggestion for a name.
“Hey, it would be really cool if you named this cat Trooper – but he got named Tibbles, which is very fitting he’s a very good little kitty," Helkenn said. "Very nice, he rode on my shoulder the entire way to the Humane Society and set off my airhorn a few times along the way. Typical cats, gotta walk across the entire keyboard.”
Tibbles is now waiting for his forever home at the local Humane Society.