A DJ, a storm chaser, and more people helping animals

Kindness to animals shows up in all kinds of ways. Sometimes, it looks like a storm chaser digging through tornado debris or people in a Facebook group covering a vet bill. Other times, it’s a foundation teaching kids about dogs or a world-famous DJ paying the vet bill for 27 rescued cats.

Each of these stories is a reminder that saving lives takes all of us. At Best Friends Animal Society, we’re working to end the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters, and we can’t do it alone. When neighbors, strangers, and even celebrities step up for animals, they help build the kind of compassionate communities that make no-kill possible.

Storm chaser Ashton Lemley is no stranger to charging toward hazardous situations like tornados and kittens. Yes, kittens … because Ashton is allergic to cats. But his allergies didn’t stop him from rescuing a kitten stuck in rubble in the aftermath of a Mississippi tornado. In the predawn hours, Ashton was out with his flashlight looking for ways to help after the storm when he heard tiny meows.

He began to dig carefully under debris, where the sounds were coming from, and came upon the kitten — wet and scared but apparently uninjured. He scooped up the kitten, and several people quickly offered up their homes if no family could be located for the little one. While Ashton couldn’t open his own home to the kitten, he was happy to help bring some hope to a heartbreaking situation.

Lyla and her dog, Molly, had been together since Lyla was a young girl. She and her mom visited their local shelter and just knew the furry little puppy was hers. Through all of Lyla’s major life events — graduation, new relationships, cross-country moves — Molly was there. When it came time to lay Molly to rest after a good long life, Lyla had one wish: to bury her beloved dog on a nice property nearby where she could visit.

A pet cemetery was out of her price range, so she reached out to her local Minneapolis Facebook group to see whether anyone with a farm or rural property had a spot for Molly’s resting place. In exchange, as an experienced farmhand, she would help out on the property. There was an immediate outpouring of support, with some people offering a place for Molly and others offering financial help. While they may not have known Lyla and Molly, they knew what love looks like. They wanted to ease the grief of loss and nurture that everlasting bond.

“Whether you have two legs or four, when you are treated with kindness, you are more likely to respond with kindness.” That’s the mantra of The Lola Foundation, founded by Jeff Jenkins in honor of his first rescued dog, Lola. Through the foundation’s Canines 4 Kindness program, Jeff brings his two rescued pit bull-type dogs to visit schools, camps, and other places to help kids see that you can’t judge dogs by what they look like on the outside.

The dogs show off their agility skills and other tricks, and Jeff teaches the kids how to interact safely with dogs and read their body language. Besides helping kids become more comfortable around dogs, Jeff hopes to inspire them to practice compassion in every aspect of their lives.

Deuce the dog had an encounter with a porcupine that, let’s just say, did not go well. Veterinarians said it was one of the most severe cases of porcupine quills they had ever seen. Deuce’s family knew the vet bill would be expensive, so they reached out to their Texas community’s Facebook group for help.

The response was fast and significant. People who didn’t even know Deuce or his family made donations, and Deuce’s vet bill was completely paid. And the goodwill didn’t stop there. While Deuce recovered at home, people who were previously strangers continued checking in on him to follow his recovery.

As the DJ known as deadmau5, he’s famous for wearing an oversized mouse helmet. But as the man known as Joel Zimmerman, he’s a huge cat lover with three rescued cats of his own. When he saw a post from an Ontario shelter saying that they had taken in 27 cats from an overcrowded house, Joel had three words for them: “I got you.”

He covered the cost of the veterinary care the cats needed, including spay/neuter surgeries, vaccinations, and microchips. Then he created a social media poll, asking his followers for help naming all the cats, which in turn brought lots of awareness to the shelter and interest in adopting the cats. These cats may never look at a mouse in quite the same way again.

Do you have a random act of kindness to share? Submit your story and a photo to editor@bestfriends.org with “random act of kindness” in the subject line.

This article was originally published in the November/December 2026 issue of Best Friends magazine. Want more good news? Become a member and get stories like this six times a year.

Our goal at Best Friends is to support all animal shelters in the U.S. in reaching no-kill. No-kill means saving every dog and cat in a shelter who can be saved, accounting for community safety and good quality of life for pets. 

Shelter staff can’t do it alone. Saving animals in shelters is everyone’s responsibility, and it takes support and participation from the community. No-kill is possible when we work together thoughtfully, honestly, and collaboratively.