Kitten-Rescuing Bus Driver Gets PETA Backing as Reinstatement Push Grows - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

For Immediate Release:
October 13, 2026

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

With more than 9,000 people now backing a petition to reinstate longtime school bus driver Cynthia Morgan, PETA joined the push today, sending a letter urging the Board of Education of Harford County to return her to her North Harford Elementary School route. According to reports, Morgan was fired after she stopped on rural Heaps School Road with one student aboard and allowed the 10-year-old to retrieve a kitten in distress from the roadside. Morgan, who had driven students for 11 years, was removed from the route after the rescue.

PETA notes that a kitten left stranded beside the road risks being run over by a car, going hungry or thirsty, suffering from exposure, or being attacked by predators.

“A child who stops to help a kitten in danger is showing exactly the compassion and respect for others that schools should nurture,” says PETA Senior Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “Kindness should be encouraged, not punished, and PETA is calling on the school board to reinstate Morgan and send students the right message about helping others in need.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.