Kitten found swimming 3 miles offshore in Gulf of Mexico

How in the hell did this happen?

But as the boat got closer and slowed down, she found it was a tiny, apricot-colored kitten. Nine inches long and screaming at the top of its lungs, the cat was paddling furiously.

The story mentions 40 other boats in the general vicinity of where the kitten now named Nemo was found. I hope the kitten in the water was an accident and not an act of cruelty.