CASTAIC (CBSLA.com) — A Good Samaritan has come to the rescue of six kittens left to die in a Castaic dumpster.

The kittens — two females and four males — were discovered in a cardboard box Monday.

They are currently being nursed back to health by Richard Kerr, a Santa Clarita man and animal lover, who was contacted by an anonymous caller who told him about the kittens.

“The kittens were so close to dying,” he says.

Kerr started the non-profit Citizens for Sheltered Animals in 1988 and has been working to place thousands of animals in forever homes ever since.

“We do as much as we can to save them,” Kerr says.

He will put the kittens up for adoption in a few weeks when they are between 8 and 10 weeks old.

He told KCAL9’s Rachel Kim that while caring for the little kittens is rather exhausting, he wouldn’t have it any other way. There are seven feedings a day, baths, cleanings, play time.

Kerr told the Santa Clarita Valley Signal: “I’ve been sleeping on the couch pretty much every night. And then when I wake up my first thought is, ‘Kittens!'”

He was called to the dumpster when the kittens were no more than a few days old and still had their umbilical cords attached.

He took them to a local vet to be checked out and then into his home where they have been ever since.

“I just love animals,” he told Kim. “I don’t know if this is what I was supposed to do [in life] but maybe I connect better with animals than I do people.”

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Newborn Kittens Discovered In Dumpster In Castaic

For more about Citizens For Sheltered Animals, click here.