FOUR kittens who were tied into a carrier bag and then reportedly thrown over a six-foot wall before being left for dead are lucky to be alive, according to RSPCA bosses.

The animal charity issued an appeal for information from local residents after 56-year-old Tracey Baker found the kittens on October 6 while walking her dog in Barnsley Cemetery.

Tracey says she saw a ‘tightly tied up’ Tesco carrier bag and assumed it was rubbish - but when her rottweiler-cross Dave wouldn’t leave it alone she went to investigate.

She opened the main bag and found three ‘terrified’ kittens, and inside was a smaller carrier bag which is where she found a fourth kitten.

Tracey took them home and alerted the RSPCA - they were then rushed to a nearby vet and it’s believed that they’re just two weeks old.

The black kitten was poorly and weak and there were original fears that he would not survive - but he, along with the rest of the bunch, are now ‘doing well’ in the care of the RSPCA Barnsley branch.

Jackie Siddall, from the branch, said: “The poor kittens were obviously trembling and terrified when we collected them and two were in poor health - it must have been a dreadful ordeal for them.

“I am delighted to say they are now doing well and our dedicated fosterer is hand rearing them to build up their strength as they only weighed 300 grams - and is busy with night feeds too.

“They are all gorgeous and when they are old enough we will find them loving forever homes.”

RSPCA chief inspector for South Yorkshire, Lyndsey Harris, is now on the hunt for the ‘callous’ person responsible for dumping the pets and is asking for local residents to supply any information that they might have.

She said: “These defenceless kittens were discarded like rubbish.

“It was a stroke of luck that they were sniffed out by a dog out walking.

“Cats and dogs are meant to be mortal enemies but in this case hero Dave saved these kittens’ lives as they would have suffered a lingering death and would have slowly suffocated.

“It’s always heartbreaking when I deal with abandonment.

“We are seeing increasing numbers of cats and kittens coming into our care.

“Perhaps in this case the owner decided the kittens would be too much work for them so instead of being responsible and contacting a rehoming charity for help they callously discarded them and left them to die.”

Anyone who can help or recognises the kittens and can identify the owner should call the RSPCA appeal line on 0300 1238018.