Page 3 - Kind News magazine, September/October 2021

opposite page, from top: (pet corner) xxxxx/bigstock; redrover; raja app images: bryan huff. this page: redrover.
HUMANE HERO

Have a story of how
you have helped animals?
We would love to hear it!
Share your story at
KindNews.org

SAVING

FROGS
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erik jan leusink/unsplash; raja app images: bryan huff. this page: jared evans/unsplash; redrover; martin woortman/unsplash.

When Rashad Evans
was 10 years old,
he made a startling
discovery outside his
uncle’s house. In the
window wells around Human Home,
the basement windows, he found more than
leaves and dirt. He found frogs, and they Animal Friendly
were in trouble. The frogs could jump down,
but they could not climb back up! People have more ways than ever to help keep
After getting the frogs out, Rashad decided to their wild neighbors safe. These tools give animals
spend his summer knocking on doors and offer his a hand like Rashad did!
service to clean out his neighbors’ window wells in • Caring Cover: Window well covers made in clear
suburban Illinois. He found several more frogs and a plastic or metal mesh cover the top of the well,
chipmunk. “I loved doing it because I love animals,” keeping dirt, leaves, and animals from falling in.
says Rashad, who is more than happy to show
pictures of his dog Buddy and tortoise Billy. Rashad • Best Bridges: The Skamper-Ramp and FrogLog
did not expect what happened next. One neighbor are two types of ramps that attach to the side of
called the police on him just for coming to her door. inground pools, giving frogs, rodents, ducklings,
She thought he wanted to commit robbery. insects, and other animals a way to climb out.
Rashad’s experience moved him to speak at a The Critter Skimmer is a spiral-shaped escape
Black Lives Matter event when he was in eighth grade, ramp that replaces the regular skimmer that pulls
after the killings of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd leaves and other debris out of a pool.
in 2020. “I was there to inform my town about • “Bee” Kind: Keep rocks, gravel, or sticks in
the racial injustices in America,” he says. “I talked birdbaths so that bees and other insects can
about the experience that I had to face when I climb out. Floating objects in a pool such as a
was younger.” His advice to other young people? “pool noodle” or faux lily pads or lotus flowers
“Always stick up for people who aren’t normally can also serve as rafts for insects to climb up on,
spoken for. It’s great to do that because it not only dry off, and fly on back to their families.
informs everyone but it also includes everyone.”

WHAT IS MORE AMAZING THAN A TALKING DOG? Sept/Oct 2021 | 3
RIDDLE RAT! (answer on p. 7)