Deaf Dog and His Guardian Win National PETA Award for Inspiring Empathy in Youth
For Immediate Release:
December 9, 2025
Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382
For teaching young people the power of kindness and that other animals are just like us in all the ways that matter, TeachKind—PETA’s humane education division—is sending music teacher Chris Hannah and his adopted deaf dog Cole its first-ever Perfect Pitch Pup Ambassadors Award, along with a gift basket bursting with treats for the whole Hannah family to enjoy.
Chris Hannah, a teacher at Dr. William Mennies Elementary School in Vineland, adopted Cole from a local animal shelter in 2017, and the duet has been inspiring people of all ages to create a more compassionate world ever since. After the successful launch of a unique social-emotional learning program at Chris’s school—where Cole helps students reflect on personal feelings of “brokenness” in a new and self-empowering way and teaches them that disabilities aren’t inabilities, they’re superpowers!—they went on to spread their message of empathy and inclusion at school assemblies throughout the Tri-State area. And for Cole’s 9th birthday, Chris led a now-viral school-wide sign language serenade, proving that kindness is contagious.
“Cole is the perfect pitch for why all dogs deserve loving homes, and he and Chris are showing young people everywhere that dogs should be treated as members of the family with their own unique personalities, wants, and needs,” says PETA Senior Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “PETA encourages everyone who has the love, care, and commitment to offer to visit their local animal shelter and consider adopting a senior or special needs companion who may otherwise be overlooked.”
With millions of homeless dogs and cats flooding U.S. animal shelters, PETA urges guardians to have their animal companions spayed or neutered and to always adopt and never buy from a pet store or breeder. People can also help by volunteering at their local animal shelter and even fostering an animal in need, which gives them more opportunities for exercise and socialization and can improve their chances of being adopted.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. TeachKind offers free presentations, lessons, and other resources to help teachers add compassion to their curricula. For more information, please visit TeachKind.org or follow TeachKind on Facebook or Instagram.
