Indiana city allowed parking violators to pay fines through cat food, litter donations

Instead of making offenders pay money for a parking ticket, police officials in an Indiana city came up with a different option.

>> Read more trending news 

During mid-July, people were allowed to pay off their parking tickets by donating cat food or cat litter, WXIN reported. The Muncie Police Department ran the promotion from July 15 through July 19.

Police officials came up with the idea as a way to help the Muncie Animal Care and Services Shelter, CNN reported. Police discovered the shelter was running short on supplies to care for more than 350 cats and kittens, according to WXIN.

All the parking offenders had to do was bring an amount of cat food or litter equal to the amount of the ticket. The results were gratifying.

"I don't know if the Police Department plans on doing this again, but we're incredibly grateful to them and the community. Their response was overwhelming," shelter office manager Ashley Honeycutt told CNN.

"A lot of people have donated cat food and litter this week," officials with the Muncie Police Department wrote on its official Twitter account. "Most of these people didn't even have a parking ticket."

Cox Media Group