While dogs may be loving and forgiving of humans, they might not share that same sentiment for cats—and this amusing clip is the perfect example.
In a sweet new video from Ohio pet owner Kyle Debecky, a pup named Navi is being a little too playful with her feline roommate Fireball.
Unfortunately for Navi, Fireball got fed up with the dog’s antics and delivered a swat to her nose and Navi’s reaction to the smack is nothing short of bamboozlement.
The evil-eye stare is sure to be turned into a GIF that will have internet users laughing for years.
Debecky reassured everyone that Fireball and Navi are good buddies, but the video captures perfectly the poor dog’s confounded expression over the sudden betrayal of friendship.
(WATCH the cute clip below)
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Quote of the Day: “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” – Mahatma Gandhi
Photo: by gail, CC license on Flickr
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20-year-old Derrick Byrd doesn’t believe he’s a hero, but rushing through flames—not once, but twice—was his automatic response to a terrifying situation.
When he awoke to a loud boom and his sister’s screams in the early morning hours of July 4th, Derrick realized their Aberdeen, Washington house was on fire and sprang into action.
He kicked in his sister’s bedroom door, then ran downstairs through flames so he could catch the children as his sister helped them jump from the upstairs window.
“Kayla wanted to get the kids out, so I ran downstairs even though I got burned,” Derrick told KOMO News.
Although it was still dark outside, Derrick safely caught Junior, 6, and Rory, 3, before Kayla herself fell off the roof. The third child, eight-year-old Mercedes, fell back into the room and screamed Derrick’s name as the house continued to burn.
Derrick didn’t think twice about his own pain when he ran back into the flames and up the stairs to rescue Mercedes.
“I could feel it burning me,” Derrick said from his hospital bed. “I got her and took my shirt off and put it around her face so she wouldn’t breathe in any smoke, and I just carried her out as fast as I could.”
After making sure his sister and her children were safe, Derrick banged on the neighbor’s door to alert them to the blaze and then, fueled by adrenalin, ran ten blocks to his mother’s house to get a ride to the hospital. By the time firefighting crews arrived on the scene, everyone in the home had survived the blaze, thanks to Derrick and Kayla’s quick and decisive actions.
Derrick suffered second- and third-degree burns on his face, back, and arms for his selfless rescue. With bandages covering his burns, the youth said he would “do it again.”
And Derrick Byrd might not agree, but those words are the hallmark of a hero.
Operation Thunderball: No, it isn’t the convoluted scheme by a James Bond villain, but the name of Interpol’s largest-ever coordinated seizure in history, capturing wildlife traffickers and their ill-gotten specimens.
The massive operation involved 109 countries and resulted in nearly 2,000 seizures of protected wildlife, 440 ivory pieces, more than 4,300 birds, and nearly 10,000 live turtles and tortoises, according to the group that organizes international police cooperation and crime control (Interpol).
Trafficking of wildlife, both flora and fauna, is the third-largest criminal enterprise worldwide behind drugs and firearms. While one might imagine elephant ivory or exotic big cats its only victims, many species are targeted, including those which aren’t yet endangered. Rare wildflower and tree specimens, in fact, are popular targets for trafficking.
The practice of traditional Chinese medicine creates an infamous demand for the illegal trade of shark fin, rhino horn, and the scales on a small mammal called the pangolin, the most trafficked animal on the planet.
Interpol and the World Customs Organization (WCO) have executed plans like this before; Operation Thunderbird in 2017, and Operation Thunderstorm in 2018. But it was Thunderball that led to the identification of nearly 600 individuals and arrests all over the globe—breaking their own record for the third year in a row.
Over the month of June, officials seized 23 live primates, 30 big cats, more than a ton of pangolin scales, 74 truckloads of timber, more than 2,600 plants, and nearly 10,000 marine species. One of Operation Thunderball’s primary efforts was identifying routes and hot beds of activity ahead of time, and by the number of countries involved in the rescue, this was the largest operation targeting wildlife crime in history.
On a positive note, the month’s seizures included only 5 rhino horns—compared to 50 seized last year.
“If we keep the pressure on and if we clamp down on specific routes and specific countries,” says Roux Raath, WCO’s environment program manager to National Geographic, “it forces criminals to either look at different commodities or either different countries, different routes….It’s changing the patterns”.
“As clearly illustrated by the results of Operation Thunderball, close cooperation at international and national levels to combat wildlife crime must never be underestimated,” said WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya.
“Such initiatives will be replicated to raise awareness within the global law enforcement community on the gravity of global wildlife crime and to better coordinate cross-agency efforts, including the engagement of civil society groups to detect and deter wildlife criminal networks,” added Mikuriya.
It’s bold action like Operation Thunderball that gives animals like the pangolin, and so many more, a fighting chance.
Everyone enjoys a nice morning drive, but one kitty was the unwitting passenger in a wild ride that ended in a rescue.
The 9-week-old kitten found her way into the subframe of a 2000 Honda Accord in Lexington, Kentucky and became trapped in one of the holes. Unnoticed by the owner at first, she was carried, hidden in the car, from Lexington to Frankfort, where she was discovered—still stuck.
When the man stopped for lunch on his way home, the trapped kitten was spotted out the window by the manager of a Hardee’s drive-thru restaurant. The concerned worker jumped into action, contacting local firefighters and the nearby Midas auto shop for help to free the feline.
A Midas mechanic posted photos and wrote on Facebook: “After an hour of rear subframe removal, a Lexington Fireman, my lead tech and myself, with some soap, sweat, and prayers, were able to extract the kitten from the clutches of the rear subframe.”
Though she was tired and frightened, the kitten appeared to be alright. The crew took her to the veterinarian’s and she was released quickly with a clean bill of health.
According to everyone who knows him, principal Lou Riolo has been a ”fantastic educator” for over 20 years, and he recently had a chance to evoke his style of compassion among the packed house in his auditorium for graduation.
One of Carmel High School’s students is Jack Higgins, who has autism. He is so sensitive to noises that he plugs his ears even when only anticipating them.
Being nonverbal, it took Jack eight years to graduate—and his parents wanted him to be able to celebrate this milestone achievement, and walk across the stage with his peers.
But what about the loud cheering and clapping?
Jack’s parents approached the principal about their son, and Riolo and school leaders came up with a solution.
“He is a wonderful member of our student community,” said Principal Riolo, as he took the stage to prepare the audience for what was to come.
In a large gymnasium with 2,200 people accustomed to cheering, would it be possible for them to remain quiet?
“An amazing thing took place,” wrote the California principal after the ceremony, when the school uploaded their video.
“At graduation, the student body and several thousand individuals were asked to not clap or cheer so Jack could participate—and what followed was nothing short of a miracle.”
A trailblazing new piece of bipartisan legislation could wipe away millions of dollars worth of student debt for disabled US veterans.
At the end of June, a group of representatives from both sides of the partisan divide introduced the Federally Requiring Earned Education-Debt Discharges for Veterans Act (FREED Vets Act) in the House and the Senate.
The act would automatically forgive the student loan debt of any eligible veteran who is permanently disabled.
In October 2018, the U.S Department of Education established a program with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to identify vets who are disabled or unable to work. Under the current program, the Department of Education then notifies veterans who are eligible for debt forgiveness of the opportunity to apply.
More than 42,000 eligible veterans have been identified by the Department of Education, yet only 20% of those eligible have applied for the program.
The FREED Vets Act, however, would automatically forgive these loans and eliminate the paperwork barrier that prevents eligible veterans from attaining student loan debt relief.
Congressman Conor Lamb, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, who also happens to be a former Marine, introduced the legislation last month along with two Republicans from that state—Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and Rep. Guy Reschenthaler.
Congressman Conor Lamb with disabled veteran
“Congress has an obligation to ease the challenges our veterans face when they come home and return to civilian life,” Lamb wrote in a statement. “This important bipartisan legislation provides a clear pathway for eligible disabled veterans to receive a benefit they have earned through their service and sacrifice.”
Reschenthaler added: “As a veteran, I’m proud to join with my colleagues to introduce legislation that streamlines student loan forgiveness for disabled veterans. These men and women served on the front lines defending our nation, and this bill will cut the red tape that stops them from receiving their benefits. I look forward to working with my colleagues in support of our nation’s heroes.”
The automatic discharge of student loan debt for eligible disabled veterans has been supported by multiple veterans groups and tax law experts, as well as 51 state attorneys general.
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Quote of the Day: “Psychoanalysis is in essence a cure through love.” – Sigmund Freud, in a Letter to Carl Jung (1906)
Photo: by christopher walling, CC license on Flickr
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The University of Texas in Austin is making an investment in the future of students in the ‘Longhorn state’ by increasing tuition assistance for those from middle- and low-income families and making its flagship research school even more affordable.
The Board of Regents voted unanimously Tuesday to establish a $160 million endowment from the state’s Permanent University Fund that will generate money for financial assistance beginning in the fall of 2020.
“Recognizing the need for improved access to higher education,” the new endowment will be used to expand UT Austin’s Texas Advance Commitment program for in-state undergraduate students.
It will completely cover full tuition and fees for students from families that earn up to $65,000 a year who have financial need—for more than 8,600 undergraduates a year.
It will expand a program to provide some assured tuition support to students from families with incomes of up to $125,000 who have financial need—for an additional 5,700 students
“I am grateful to the UT System Board of Regents and Chairman Kevin Eltife for prioritizing students and investing in the future of our great state,” said UT Austin President Gregory L. Fenves. “College affordability is one of the most critical issues affecting all Texans. Thanks to his leadership and the board’s action, this new endowment will go a long way toward making our university affordable for talented Texas students from every background and region.”
The regents’ vote represents one of the largest financial aid commitments to improve the predictability and affordability of higher education among the nation’s leading public research universities. The endowment (from a fund that includes money from oil and gas royalties earned from state-owned land) will support undergraduates from across Texas, including first-year through fourth-year and transfer students.
“There is no greater engine of social and economic mobility than a college degree, and this initiative ensures that more Texans will benefit” said Chancellor James B. Milliken.
UT Austin, recognized as one of the world’s leading research universities, already has a smaller annual average for its undergraduate in-state tuition ($10,314 with fees) than 12 other Texas public universities, according to data published by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Thanks to recent financial aid expenditures by the school in 2016 and 2018, it currently provides full tuition assistance for students from families earning up to $30,000 a year and guaranteed financial aid for qualified families earning up to $100,000. More than 4,000 students were supported by that program during this past academic year, its first year of implementation.
In awarding financial aid to middle- and low-income students, the university will continue to draw from multiple sources, including federal Pell grants, and the TEXAS Grants program, which received additional support from the Texas Legislature this year. The funds from the new endowment will then be used to supplement grants and scholarships.
In 2018, Kiplinger’s Best Value Colleges ranked UT Austin No. 8 in the nation, in a state where median household income was $59,206 in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
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A family who lost everything in a house blaze has been humbled by their ten-year-old neighbor who raised a surprising about of money on their behalf by serving homemade lemonade.
Kayley Cross, 10, was devastated when she saw flames destroy the home of Brooke and Josh Rummonds while they raced to safety with their young sons.
The fire, which started in bins outside their Fresno home, destroyed all their possessions. Two days later, Kayley sat across from the building’s remains and sold 100 cups in return for donations, raising $1,000.
People drove from far and wide to donate cash, after hearing about dedicated California youth.
The Rummonds are being helped by friends and family—but said Kayley’s thoughtful gesture touched them the most.
“We know our neighbors really well,” said Kayley. “I sat on the front step and watched the fire, and wanted to help in some way.”
She had already planned to raise money for a dog shelter, but after the fire, she chose to donate that money to the Rummonds instead.
“We didn’t expect so many people to donate so much money,” said the young philanthropist.
Kayley Cross, 10, raised $1,000 for her neighbors with lemonade. Photos by SWNS
“We saw our neighbors come out their homes and instinctively rally to our side and look after us,” said Mrs. Rummonds. “That spirit of friendship was summed up in Kayley, who is a wonderful girl.”
“It’s going to be hard for a while, but we’re so humbled by these wonderful people who’ve come together for us in such a big way.”
Quote of the Day: “All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.” – E.B. White (born 120 years ago today)
Photo: by McKinley Corbley, Copyright 2019
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Most people know that regular exercise is good for your health – but this new research shows that it may make you smarter, too.
Neuroscientists working with mice at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland have discovered that a short burst of exercise directly boosts the function of a gene that increases connections between neurons in the hippocampus, the region of the brain associated with learning and memory.
The research is published online in the journal eLife.
“Exercise is cheap, and you don’t necessarily need a fancy gym membership or have to run 10 miles a day,” said co-senior author Gary Westbrook, senior scientist at the OHSU Vollum Institute.
Previous research in animals and in people shows that regular exercise promotes general brain health. However, it’s hard to untangle the overall benefits of exercise to the heart, liver and muscles from the specific effect on the brain. For example, a healthy heart oxygenates the whole body, including the brain.
“Previous studies of exercise almost all focus on sustained exercise,” Westbrook said. “As neuroscientists, it’s not that we don’t care about the benefits on the heart and muscles, but we wanted to know the brain-specific benefit of exercise.”
So the scientists designed a study in mice that specifically measured the brain’s response to single bouts of exercise in otherwise sedentary mice that were placed for short periods on running wheels. The mice ran a few kilometers in two hours.
The study found that short-term bursts of exercise – the human equivalent of a weekly game of pickup basketball, or 4,000 steps – promoted an increase in synapses in the hippocampus. Scientists made the key discovery by analyzing genes that were increased in single neurons activated during exercise.
One particular gene stood out: Mtss1L. This gene had been largely ignored in prior studies in the brain.
“That was the most exciting thing,” said co-lead author Dr. Christina Chatzi.
The Mtss1L gene encodes a protein that causes bending of the cell membrane. Researchers discovered that when this gene is activated by short bursts of exercise, it promotes small growths on neurons known as dendritic spines – the site at which synapses form.
In effect, the study showed that an acute burst of exercise is enough to prime the brain for learning.
In the next stage of research, scientists plan to pair acute bouts of exercise with learning tasks to better understand the impact on learning and memory.
Two determined little girls are rallying thousands of people to sign a petition demanding that Burger King and McDonald’s stop giving away free plastic toys – and they have almost met their goal of half a million signatures.
With the help of their mother, 9-year-old Ella and 7-year-old Caitlin Wood started an online Change.org petition in order to persuade the fast food giants to do away with the wasteful toys that come with Happy Meals and Junior Meals.
Since launching the petition, the youngsters have garnered over 350,000 signatures of their 500,000 goal – and the call to action has already accumulated further support from adults and children alike.
“We’ve been learning all about the environment at school and the problem of plastic. It made us very sad to see how plastic harms wildlife and pollutes the ocean, and we want to change this,” reads the petition. “That’s why we want Burger King and McDonald’s to think of the environment and stop giving plastic toys with their kids meals.
“We like to go to eat at Burger King and McDonald’s, but children only play with the plastic toys they give us for a few minutes before they get thrown away and harm animals and pollute the sea. We want anything they give us to be sustainable so we can protect the planet for us and for future generations,” they continued.
In addition to the girls making a compelling argument, the amount of signatures on the petition almost doubled after reporters with the BBC 1’s “War on Plastic” followed the determined young activists to the McDonald’s headquarters in order to hand-deliver the petition.
Since the little girls’ story started being picked up by international news outlets, Burger King and McDonald’s have both emailed statements to CNBC detailing their plans for making their free toys more sustainable.
(WATCH the powerful BBC coverage below) – Photo by BBC1
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Jaden Smith is already famous for being a beloved musician and actor, but now he is doing even more to add to his growing reputation as a philanthropist.
Earlier this week, the young celebrity celebrated his 21st birthday by giving away free vegan meals to homeless people on Skid Row.
The giveaway was just the first of many pop-up events that will be hosted by Jaden’s new “I Love You Restaurant” vegan food truck.
Though Jaden has not disclosed any details about how often the truck will be distributing the free meals, the project has already garnered an outpouring of praise and support on social media.
This is not the first time that Jada Pinkett and Will Smith’s son has made headlines for charity work, either. In March, Jaden’s foundation collaborated with a church in Flint, Michigan in order to deploy various water filtration systems.
He is now asking his fans to keep an eye out for the I Love You Restaurant vegan food truck in Los Angeles because it will reportedly be making many more appearances in the days to come.
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Joan Baez and Dylan at the Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. in 1963 – Rowland Scherman, CC license / National Archives
Quote of the Day: “We were singing strictly gospel, but then (we heard Joan Baez and Dylan) and saw that those songs were very fitting for us because they were singing the truth, and truth is gospel.” – Mavis Staples (80 years old today)
Photo: by Rowland Scherman in D.C. in 1963, CC license
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This story was submitted as a nomination to the Reader’s Digest “Top 50 Nicest Places in America” contest: a crowd-sourced effort to uncover nooks where people are still kind and respectful in an era of cultural and political divides. Be sure and vote for which story you think should be nominated as the Nicest Place by visiting the Reader’s Digest website.
Photo by David Orr via Reader’s Digest
In most places, a dividing line acts to separate people – but in this border town, the line brings folks together.
Texarkana is one city that happens to straddle two states, so it has plenty of built-in divisions.
As its name suggests, the Texas-Arkansas border runs right through the town of nearly 70,000. And as you might expect in this part of the country, a high-school football rivalry between the Texas High Tigers and Arkansas High Razorbacks goes back more than 100 years. The annual game draws 10,000 fans.
Of course, few disputes can’t be solved by breaking bread, and that’s exactly what the town does with another of their annual traditions: the Dine on the Line dinner.
Tables are set up down the middle of State Line Avenue (the state border runs right down the double-yellow traffic lines) and more than 1,000 people come to eat, talk, and have the unique experience of passing the salt across state lines. Diners are invited to sit on either side of the table, and mayors from both towns make a speech.
“You want to focus on working together as one community,” says Bob Bruggeman, mayor of the Texas side. “We don’t talk about ourselves as Texarkana, Texas, and Texarkana, Arkansas; we market ourselves as ‘two cities, one community.’”
Sounds good when a politician says it, but goals aren’t always aligned. A recent water-system dispute (the cities share the system but have different laws governing it) divided leaders in town, according to Les Minor, editor of the Texarkana Gazette. Eventually, differences were settled, and then it was time to make up—over a handshake on State Line Avenue.
These days, the city is coming closer together all the time. Bruggeman, who graduated from Texas High in 1980, recalls the days when the week of the big game would mean pranks all across town.
“That’s really toned down over the years,” he says. After all, locals want to live up to the longtime city motto, written in huge letters on a water tower right by I-30: “Twice as Nice.”
Reprinted with permission from Reader’s Digest. To learn more about GNN’s part in searching for the Top 10 Nicest Places, click here.
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The next time you need to get the creative juices flowing, playing some types of video games may help.
Video games that foster creative freedom can increase creativity under certain conditions, according to new research from Iowa State University. The experimental study compared the effect of playing Minecraft, with or without instruction, to watching a TV show or playing a race car video game. Those given the freedom to play Minecraft without instruction were most creative.
“It’s not just that Minecraft can help induce creativity. There seems to be something about choosing to do it that also matters,” said Douglas Gentile, a professor of psychology.
If you are not familiar with the game, Gentile says Minecraft is like a virtual Lego world. The game, which has sold more than 100 million copies, allows players to explore unique worlds and create anything they can imagine. Study participants randomly assigned to play Minecraft were split into two groups. The one receiving instruction was told to play as creatively as possible.
After 40 minutes of play or watching TV, the 352 participants completed several creativity tasks. To measure creative production, they were asked to draw a creature from a world much different than Earth. More human-like creatures scored low for creativity and those less human-like scored high. Surprisingly, those instructed to be creative while playing Minecraft were the least creative.
Gentile says there’s no clear explanation for this finding. In the paper published by the Creativity Research Journal, he and Jorge Blanco-Herrera, lead author and former master’s student in psychology, outlined possible reasons why the instructed Minecraft group scored lower. Blanco-Herrera says the instructions may have changed subjects’ motivation for play.
Photo by Iowa State University
“Being told to be creative may have actually limited their options while playing, resulting in a less creative experience,” Blanco-Herrera said. “It’s also possible they used all their ‘creative juices’ while playing and had nothing left when it came time to complete the test.”
Video games can have both harmful and beneficial effects. Gentile’s previous research has shown the amount, content and context of video games influence what players learn through repeated experiences. While much of Gentile’s research has focused on aggression or prosocial behavior, he says the same appears to be true for creativity.
Most video games encourage players to practice some level of creativity. For example, players may create a character and story for role-playing games or be rewarded for creative strategies in competitive games. The researchers say even first-person shooter games can potentially inspire creativity as players think about strategy and look for advantages in combat.
“The research is starting to tell a more interesting, nuanced picture. Our results are similar to other gaming research in that you get better at what you practice, but how you practice might matter just as much,” Gentile said.
The researchers say based on these findings, it is important to not disregard the potential video games have as engaging and adaptive educational opportunities.
An Aussie family vacation has been saved thanks to a compassionate stranger who felt compelled to help the stranded travelers after learning about their plight on social media.
The Melrose family had been in the middle of a 4,000-kilometer (2,500-mile) road trip across Australia last week when their car broke down in the middle of the Northern Territories.
Daryn Melrose, his wife, and two daughters had left their home in Gippsland with two boats in tow so they could compete in the national minnow sailing championships in Darwin.
Since the youngsters had spent all year training for the tournament, they were heartbroken over the idea that all of their efforts had been for naught – but with 620 miles standing between them and Darwin, it seemed as if they had no chance but to give up on their dreams of competing.
Upon learning about their dilemma, ABC News made a social media post with the hopes that one of their readers would feel spurred to help the Melrose family.
As fate would have it, Darwin resident Rodney Sims had been scrolling through his news feed when he saw the plea for help and recalled a time when he had been in the same predicament.
“About 30 years ago, strangely enough, I was in a similar situation with a broken-down car and someone helped me out … this was my time to give back,” Sims told ABC News.
Sims then hopped in his truck and drove all the way down to where the family was staying in a Tenant Creek motel. After hitching up their boats to his vehicle, he brought the Melroses all the way back to Darwin, amounting to a staggering 1,250-mile round-trip journey.
Needless to say, the Melroses were incredibly touched by the stranger’s act of kindness.
“What a legend – what a fantastic effort,” Daryn told the news outlet. “He drove all the way down to us, hooked up the trailer, and drove us all the way back to Darwin.
“My daughters and I could not be more grateful for his efforts,” he added. “They got here on time and are hoping for podium finishes after their competitions.”
Photo by Daryn Melrose
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Toyota has begun testing a new Prius model that uses ultra-thin solar panels to eliminate the risk of a car running out of juice on the road.
The company announced earlier this week that they plan to commence public road trials from late July 2019.
The trials, which will be conducted in collaboration with the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and electronics corporation Sharp, aim to assess the effectiveness of improvements in cruising range and fuel efficiency of electrified vehicles equipped with high-efficiency solar batteries.
To facilitate the execution of this trial, Sharp modularized its high-efficiency solar battery cells (with conversion efficiency of 34%), previously developed for a NEDO-led project, to create an onboard solar battery panel.
The solar battery cell is a thin film about 0.03 mm in thickness, which makes it possible to efficiently install to fit the curves of vehicle parts with limited space.
Toyota then installed this panel on the roof, hood, rear hatch door, and other parts of its “Prius PHV” and produced a demo car for public road trials. By enhancing the solar battery panel’s efficiency and expanding its onboard area, Toyota was able to achieve a rated power generation output of around 860W, which is approximately 4.8-times higher in comparison with the commercial model Prius PHV (equipped with a solar-charging system).
In addition to substantially boosting its power generation output, the demo car employs a system that charges the driving battery while the vehicle is parked and also while it’s being driven – a development that is expected to lead to considerable improvements in electric-powered cruising range and fuel efficiency.
Toyota plans to conduct the trials under various driving conditions in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, Tokyo, and other areas. Various data, including the power generation output of the solar battery panel and the amount the drive battery is charged, will be obtained and verified, and then used in the development of an onboard solar recharging system.
The PV-powered Vehicle Strategy Committee, which NEDO launched in 2016 in collaboration with several other entities, will evaluate the benefits based on improvements in CO2 emissions reductions and convenience, such as the number of times a vehicle requires recharging.
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Not all heroes wear capes, but this guy has already saved dozens of dogs and cats from euthanasia – and he has done it all while dressed as Batman.
27-year-old Chris Van Dorn has always been a fan of the beloved Caped Crusader; so when he began volunteering for various animal rescue organizations around Orlando, Florida, he decided to combine his two passions and use a Batman suit to bring attention to the importance of pet adoption.
“It kind of just came as a way to embody all the good I wanted to do in the world,” Van Dorn told The Dodo, “and make it easy for people to talk to me right off the bat.”
Photo by Batman4Paws
Not only has he used the suit as a conversation starter for why people should adopt shelter pets, he has also donned the suit to transport dozens of animals from the shelter to their loving forever homes.
Initially, Van Dorn used the superhero costume as a means of keeping all of his rescue missions anonymous – but his good deeds finally brought his real identity into the limelight after he was featured as an honorary GoFundMe Hero in May.
Since Van Dorn launched his nonprofit Batman4Paws in 2018, he has embarked on dozens of hours-long cross-country road trips to rescue dogs from euthanasia and bring them to loving families that are willing to adopt them.
Thankfully, the GoFundMe article helped to finance Van Dorn’s rescue missions since his crowdfunding page has collectively raised about $32,000 over the course of the last 10 months.
Photo by Batman4Paws
“When I was first starting out, I was keeping everything really anonymous,” Van Dorn told the news outlet. “I would sign everything ‘Bruce Wayne’ and not put my real name out there … My catchphrase is, ‘It’s not who I am underneath but what I do that defines me’ and I still hold that true today.”
Van Dorn now hopes that he will be able to find a compassionate citizen to donate a bigger van so he can replace his current Batmobile – a humble Honda Accord – and transport more animals on his rescue missions.
He also aims to use his pilot’s license as a means of using air travel as a more efficient means of transporting his doggos in distress.
Additionally, since he recently got his trusty sidekick Mr. Boots licensed as a therapy dog, the two have been making plenty of guest appearances as Batman and Robin at various hospitals around Florida.
Photo by Batman4Paws
The Dynamic Duo has also donned their costumes for adoption events and animal shelter fundraisers.
Van Dorn says that the costume helps to draw in more visitors, and he takes every opportunity to hand out brochures and stickers concerning the importance of adoption.
If you would like to learn more about Van Dorn’s mission or make a donation to his nonprofit, you can visit the Batman4Paws website.
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