The 37-year-old said it was a wave of emotions as he realized someone had likely dumped the kittens on the side of the road at an age when they couldn’t fend for themselves.

Then he started the notably difficult task of herding the cats into his Honda hatchback.

“When I opened the door and started putting ’em in, they were jumping out. If I’d throw one in, three would run out,” he said. “But they would stay around my ankles on the ground. So I finally rolled down the windows, shut a door and started putting them inside where they couldn’t get out.”

Brantley then headed home with his baker’s dozen of kittens. The initial video gained a lot of traction on social media, and Brantley said thousands of offers for adoption started pouring in from all around the U.S. and elsewhere in the world.