Humane Education

Eleven-Year-Old Humane Educator Spreads Empathy

Honolulu, HI (May 3, 2021) – A Honolulu fifth-grader, Kaitlin Miyashiro, was chosen as Kind News magazine’s Humane Hero for their May/June edition. The children’s magazine is published by RedRover, a national animal welfare nonprofit.

Kaitlin loved animals from a young age. At four-years-old, she was so excited to bring her new puppy Cookie home from a pet store. But sadly Cookie died shortly thereafter from a virus she had contracted from a suspected puppy mill operation. Even though she was so heartbroken, she knew that she wanted to help other dogs in need, so she and her family began working with Fur Angel Foundation (FAF).

A few years later Kaitlin started teaching other youth how to care for pets. Now at 11, she proudly serves as FAF’s Educational Youth Coordinator. Prior to the pandemic, Kaitlin visited local schools monthly to teach classes on topics such as:

  • Approaching animals
  • Food no-nos
  • Veterinarian care
  • Microchipping
  • Poop scoop
  • Games

Kaitlin said, “I volunteer because I hope to one day end animal abuse, neglect, and abandonment through education.”

Kaitlin often brought her dog Boba to teach kids how to approach dogs. She estimates she has reached more than 1,500 students through her work at FAF. Since classrooms have been closed, she has illustrated an activity book called Hero’s Journey to a Forever Home! She spends her free time with her dog Boba, and cats Pepper and Kuno, while learning how to animate drawings and make videos.

“I illustrated ‘Hero’s Journey to a Forever Home’ to bring life to characters that I hope will inspire people to be responsible pet owners,” said Kaitlin.

RedRover President and CEO Nicole Forsyth said, “Kaitlin’s kindness towards animals is truly inspiring and what we strive for in our RedRover Readers program. Anytime a child can develop this type of empathy for animals, and others, we can prevent animal cruelty.”

Kind News uses articles and short features to highlight issues affecting animals, and provides tips for understanding animal behavior and caring for pets. Each issue features a young Humane Hero, game or activity, MUTTS comic strip, Critter Clues, and much more.

Do you know a child who goes above and beyond to show kindness towards animals? Submit a kindness story for a chance to be featured on RedRover’s social media, and potentially be chosen as a Humane Hero: http://kindnews.org/shareyourstory.

To learn more about Kind News and view Kaitlin’s feature, visit: KindNews.org.

To download Kaitlin’s book visit furangelfoundation.org/activity-booklet.

About Kind News:

Kind News magazine™ is an eight-page, full-color RedRover publication that helps children understand animals and think about why treating animals and people with kindness matters. The publication is available in two reading versions: Kind News,Jr. for grades K-2 and Kind News for grades 3-6, and is distributed five times throughout the school year. The magazine is available in print or as an interactive, digital edition. To learn more visit: KindNews.org.

 About RedRover

Since 1987, RedRover has focused on bringing animals out of crisis and strengthening the human-animal bond through emergency sheltering, disaster relief services, financial assistance and education. To learn how RedRover is building a more compassionate world, visit RedRover.org

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Sheri Madsen
916.600.8157 cell
smadsen@redrover.org

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