A cat was found abandoned near an Illinois animal shelter, left in a carrier packed with snow, WQAD reported.

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Donald Czyczyk, director of shelter medicine at Happy Tails Humane Society in Rock Falls, told the television station he was driving to work Wednesday when he spotted something pink in the snow near the shelter’s driveway.

"I said, 'There's definitely not a cat in here.' So I grabbed it, and next thing I know I saw an ear," Czyczyk told WQAD.

There was a gray tabby cat inside the carrier, so Czyczyk brought her inside the shelter.

"She immediately was all over, wanting attention and love," Czyczyk told the television station. "You could tell she was very happy to be rescued."

The cat has been renamed Winter, and, other than being treated for fleas, seems to be in good health, WQAD reported.

An ordinance in Whiteside County states that people caught abandoning animals can face a fine up to $500.

"This isn't the thing to do right now, dumping an animal, when it's below zero," Czyczyk told WQAD, who added that there was a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the person or persons who abandoned the feline.

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Blue heron are just one of the hundreds of kinds of animals and plants that call the Okefenokee Swamp home. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

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