Race Your Pumpkin While Dressed Like Top Gun

The script presents five uplifting news stories: a British woman rescues a stray cat in Abu Dhabi, the North Atlantic right whale population sees a small increase, a new implant helps restore vision in patients with age-related macular degeneration, American ranchers use virtual fencing for cattle, and the 2025 West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta entertains with participants paddling hollowed-out pumpkins in elaborate costumes.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Kalaroka Shark Media. Hey there, shunning back with five good
news stories. In Dubai, a British woman has gone above
and beyond to save a stray cat that had been
living for two years in a derelict bathroom. The cat
is going to move to her new home in the UK.

(00:23):
Chicu is a hobbyist animal rescuer and got a message
from a stranger who spotted a frightened cat hiding and
an abandoned building in Abu Dhabi. Chicu got in her
car drove ninety minutes from Dubai to find the cat.
Chicu says she's such a gentle cat who has endured
such hardship. It broke my heart when I first saw her.
Workers at the site said the cat had lived there

(00:45):
for years, sheltering under sheets of metal in the crumbling bathroom.
For three weeks, Chicu made the long drive every night
after work, bringing food, sitting with the cat, slowly earning
the cat's trust until she was able to coax her
out and take her to a vet. The cat is
now named Terara Nova, meaning a new Star. Chiculo tells
us she looked completely lost and fearful. We thought she
had probably been a patent had been abandoned. She was

(01:06):
scared and alone. I couldn't walk away. On the paper
work clears Terra Nova will live in England. That's really cool.
Good news if you are a North Atlantic right whale.
After years of decline, researchers say, you guys are bouncing back.
The population is up two percent, not a lot, but
it's better than down. They believe there are now around
three hundred and eighty four whales. That's seven percent up

(01:28):
since twenty twenty. Heather Pettis works at the New England
Aquarium and said it's always a great feeling when we
can share positive news about this critically endangered species. This
slight increase leaves us cautiously optimistic about the future of
the North American right whales. There's new hope for people
losing their sight. A tiny implant is helping restore central
vision to those with age related muscular degeneration, the condition

(01:51):
long considered untreatable. Here's how it works. An implant is
placed behind the retina and paired with augmented reality glasses
that of a tiny video camera. The camera captures images
and converts them into signals. And sends them to the brain,
essentially recreating what the eye can no longer do. After
one year, eighty percent of patients regained enough vision to
read again. Wow, that's really awesome. American ranchers are trying

(02:14):
something new. Instead of miles and miles of wire fences,
they're turning to virtual fencing systems. You know those like
do you have one of those invisible offenses for your dogs?
Imagine that except for cows. The cowswuare collars, which uses
GPS to keep the cattle grazing where they're supposed to
without the cost and hassle of fixing fences. Amy works

(02:34):
for the Nature Conservacy's Little Sue Project and says the
cows catch on so fast they hear the tone. They
don't even stop grazing, They just change direction and go
a different way. So it's really really easy on them,
and it's easy on the former two. Nick is a
rancher in South Dakota and says the system is ninety
five percent effective, but any rancher could tell you physical
fence isn't one hundred percent either. Sounds like it was

(02:56):
a lot of fun at the twenty twenty five West
Coast giant pumpkin rig he gotta. Heidi Marx coordinates the
event and told The Washington Post it's kind of a
ridiculous idea, which is why it's so popular. What do
you do? You hollow out a pumpkin and you paddle
it across a lake while wearing an elaborate costume. Of course,
Heidi says, how often do you say they've watched people

(03:16):
in costumes paddling thousand pound pumpkins on a lake. Parker
dressed up as the very Hunger caterpillar. It was his
first time of the race. He said, I was just
chatting with my family in the car, like breinstorming things
to do, and my dad thought up the idea of
a caterpillar eating its way up out of the pumpkin.
I thought that's fun and I went with it. It's a
quarter mile race, multiple heats, one for growers, one for

(03:36):
event sponsors, one for local officials, and two for the public.
Gary won his heat. He was dressed as Buddy the
Elf and he's been working on this. His growing process
presses pumpkin plants against boards, so the resulting pumpkins have
a more narrow kayak like shape. Boy he's putting work
into this. However, this year he had to borrow pumpkin
from a friend as his own plants fell victim to

(03:58):
a fungal infection. Yes, she could have used a regular
pumpkin anyway. Other heat winners included racers dressed as Ted Lasso,
a top gun pilot, and a pickle. And those are
your fine good news stories for today. I have a
good one.