Video of CEO Goes Viral – ryan

An animal shelter participating in a TikTok trend quickly went viral, leaving the employees stunned and appreciative of the positive response.

Kendall D. Paul, CEO of the Vanderburgh Humane Society, Inc. in Indiana, told Newsweek that a team member, Mackenzee McKittrick, saw a trend circling TikTok and suggested the nonprofit animal shelter should participate.

This social media trend starts with a person bumping into the camera. They pretend to threaten the one filming not to touch them again, or they’ll find out who they’re messing with. The person filming taps them again, and like a flip of a switch, the other one politely goes into explaining themselves.

In Vanderburgh Humane Society’s version, posted on April 1 to the account @vhslifesaver, Paul stood before the camera and acted annoyed when the one filmed touched her. She said: “Touch me again and you’re going to find out exactly who I am.”

But when the person tapped her again, she turned around smiling with a puppy in her arms, which a worker named Amanda secretly handed off to her.

Paul explained the humane society is there to help, whether people are looking to adopt a pet or for those with animals, they can receive spay and neutering treatments or vaccinations. She directed viewers to the website for more information.

The attention the humane society received from the video shocked Paul. For something that took them about three minutes to film, they’ve been blown away by the feedback. Paul said it has been viewed over 35 million times across multiple platforms.

“We started reading the comments and were a little confused,” she said. “We really had no idea that you couldn’t see Amanda at all in the video. Mackenzee filmed it perfectly, and Amanda jumped out of frame at just the right moment. So, the video not only had a puppy, it had a magic puppy!”

Paul said they have not seen a huge bump in adoptions or donations since they posted the video, but it did help raise $1,500 through their Venmo and website. And thankfully, Paul mentioned adoptions have stayed steady.

“We just want people, no matter where they live, to consider shelters first when adding a pet to their family,” Paul said. “Nonprofit animal shelters have wonderful pets of all ages looking for homes…So, if anything, we hope the video will make people think about humane societies and what they do in communities.”

Viewer Reactions

As of Tuesday, the TikTok video had amassed over 7.3 million views and 1.5 million likes. While some viewers couldn’t stop laughing at the trend, others were more impressed with the filming and acting.

“CEO of the humane society, a magician, AND an actress?? The RANGE,” commented one person.

A second commenter asked: “I’m sorry, is your CEO a witch? How did she just spawn a puppy?”

Another person joked: “Went from Karen to caring real fast!”

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to [email protected] with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.