A tale of feline survival has emerged from an event in Suffolk Monday to neuter and spay feral cats.

When one volunteer feral cat trapper arrived at the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal’s SNIP van, which was in town for the first time, volunteers noticed that one animal she brought had recently given birth, Suffolk Humane Society Director of Community Outreach Kay Hurley said.

“The volunteers realized the mother had recently given birth, so they went out in a search party,” she said.

They knew where the mother was trapped 48 hours beforehand and spent over an hour each day searching the area “meowing,” Suffolk Humane volunteer Shelley Childs said.

The three kittens — two females and a male, about 3 weeks old, all healthy — were eventually found Monday by a non-volunteer who had learned of the search.

“A neighbor was aware of the fact that we were trapping in the (Eclipse) area … and he was able to bring them to Suffolk volunteers,” Childs said.

The kittens will be available for adoption from PetSmart at some point, she said.

Monday’s event yielded 45 neutered or spayed cats in all, according to Hurley.

“We had more people who wanted to take advantage of it, but there wasn’t space,” she said.

The 45 cats were spayed or neutered, tested for feline AIDS and leukemia, vaccinated against rabies and had an ear clipped, which identifies them as having undergone the process.

For information on volunteering with Suffolk Humane, call 538-3030.